The Lost Son
by Abby1
Summary: After coming to Colorado Springs in search of his real parents. Xander finds himself fighting to find a truth that threatens his new family.
1. Default Chapter

Standard Disclaimer Applies. I do not own the characters of SG-1 or BTVS.

Timeline: BTVS end of season 5, SG1 season 7.

Summary: Xander comes to Colorado Springs looking for his parents Jack and Sara O'neill.

Prologue

They had needed for him to go on a mission. A mission he would be prepared to not come back from. They needed him destitute and broken and they needed him desperately, so they took his son.

Took him and gave him a new name and a new family and a new life and never expected him to remember. But he does. He dreams late at night about a woman with soft caramel blonde hair and gentle blue eyes, singing a lullaby as she rocks him to sleep in her arms.

It took magic to find out the truth. Magic and Willow and a little luck. And now he stands at this front door eleven years older then when he was taken away. Taller and broader and older. Wiser and wittier and changed, so changed.

He sighs at the old oak panelling and his heart pounds at the inside wall of his chest as he wonders what he will say over and over. Will he admit to being their child? Will he tell them the truth first or lie to get to know them?

The door is opened and the woman from his dreams is there a little greyer around the edges and with a few more lines creased across her brow, but he knows this woman. He came from this woman.

She opens her mouth to ask something and pauses then stops as her eyes scan the face before her, the dark brown hair. From her Father's side. The chocolate brown eyes, His father's gift to the gene pool.

He sees it in her eyes, the confusion that lingers there.

''It's ...! But it can't be, he's dead.' Reason commands these thoughts, but deep inside in a small locked and secured section of her soul a figurative chest is opened and something spills from it slowly;

Hope.

End Prologue.


	2. Who's come knocking on my door?

Standard Disclaimer Still Applies.

Chapter one – Who's come knocking on my door?

"Hi, my name is Alexander Harris and I'm a carpenter. I recently moved into the area and I'm just introducing myself to all the homeowners on the off chance that you need something fixed or built." Xander rattles off, a speech that he had carefully prepared, a non-threatening approach he thinks.

Sara is silent, still staring at the man before her.

"Ma'am?" Xander prompts and she snaps from her daze.

"Oh! Yes, come in. I was just trying to think of what needs mending."

She stutters an excuse standing to one side and allowing Xander entrance into her house, the home he feels he left many years ago.

Xander finds the living room on his own, it is in the front of the house and a part of him wants to believe that it's because he remembers where it is. Another part, the rationale part tells him it's because he could hear the drone of the television.

There is a man in the room, an older man with grey hair, seated in front of the set watching a baseball game. He looks up and smiles at his daughter.

"Honey?" Mike asks warmly.

"Dad, this is Alex, he's a carpenter and I thought it might be good if he fixed the back fence." She explains her face still ashen from the shock.

"The fence," he hesitates looking confused up at his daughter, "but I thought..."

Before he could finish his thought, he is cut off.

"Alex sit down, please. Dad, can I see you in the kitchen for a moment." It's an order, not a question and the older man gets up, confused.

"Would you like a drink?" Sara asks as she leaves with her father, who is being held by his arm in a death grip and who looks between his daughter and where the young man is standing mystified.

Xander watches them go and sits in a plush armchair, sinking into the soft cushion breathing out a breath he's been holding since he entered the room. Besides him on a small standing table covered with photo frames stands a plain frame made from Popsicle sticks. He reaches out gently and turns the sticks so that he can see the photo protected by a careful laminate of plastic.

A young boy in a baseball cap stares at him, a stupid grin on his face and a baseball glove gripped in his hand. Xander's heart nearly stops in shocked realisation. The boy is Xander as a child; he knows this because the same boy is in photo frames back in California. They sit however without the loving attention, dusty amongst old coffee cups and empty bottles of spirits.

Sara and the old man return with Sara handing Xander a tall glass of iced tea, while the old man returns to his seat in-front of the television, but the baseball game is now forgotten and instead

Mike watches Xander with an expression of bemused intrigue on his face. The staring makes Xander uncomfortable and he shifts awkwardly in the armchair. The old man stops staring, and returns his gaze briefly back to the set.

"So, did you want me to take a look at this fence?" Xander asks after taking a deep slurp of the cool refreshing drink. A wedge of lemon has been inserted onto the glass rim and he fiddles with the rind nervously.

"Yes. Ah the fence is out the back in the garden, finish your drink and then we'll look at it together." Sara decides as she shoots a glare at her Father who turns the television volume down.

"So Alex, you like baseball?" The old man asks and Xander shakes his head.

"Ah no, not really. I never really got into it. I mean I was never really any good at sports." Xander explains.

The old man looks at Sara with a knowing look, Sara looks at Xander and then back at her father with desperate eyes.

"Me? I love baseball, I tell you I could sit here all day watching a

Ball game." The man states and Xander shakes his head,

"Not me, I'm not a big fan of sports. Well, I mean, I was on the school swim team for a few weeks and I had a run in with a football player once." He offers with a wry smile and the man nods and shares another glance with his daughter.

"So Alex, how long have you lived in Colorado Springs?" Sara asks as she takes a seat herself on a sofa.

"Actually only a couple of months. Before that I lived in California.

That's where I grew up." Xander supplies and Sara nods casually, but behind the comforting smile Xander can see that her teeth are clenched.

"You move here with your family?" She wants to know and Xander shakes his head.

"No, my Mom and Dad still live in California." Sara nods somewhat sadly and looks at Mike who sends her a reassuring half smile.

"I'll just check that fence out and see what needs to be done."

Xander announces throwing back the rest of his drink as he stands.

"Oh…ah, Ok." Sara stammers and she leads Xander through the house, behind her the old man reaches for a photo and examines it carefully, his thumb brushing across the glass in the frame and he looks after Xander as he is lead away, He then thoughtfully shakes his head and returns the photo frame to the table as tunes back into the game.

The back yard is bare save for a broken garden seat, a rusted swing set and an old oak tree. The fence up the back shows no obvious sign of ware. Quite the opposite in fact, it looks to have been given a new coat of paint recently and shines bright green in the afternoon sunlight.

"This is the fence." Sara states staring at it with a slight look of panic on her face.

"It seems to be all here." Xander states, kicking a solid plank with his foot. The fence shakes a little but is built to stand.

"Yes. But I ah… want it taller." Sara replies hopelessly staring at the fence and Xander nods.

"Ok, well I could really only add about a foot, but honestly it doesn't really seem worth it," As he says it a look of desperation crosses Sara's face as she glances urgently around the garden.

Xander is frozen in silence for a moment as he watches Sara's eyes searching his face again, as if she were looking at someone she thought she remembered but couldn't find any obvious similarities.

"I could fix your chair?" Xander offers suddenly, turning to look at

the old broken down garden seat and dilapidated table.

He remembers this seat, or at least he thinks he remembers sitting on it. The smell of the grill being cooked on warm summer evenings, now it has fallen into ruin. The cold Colorado winters have taken their toll on the feeble wooden planks. Rot and wear breaking down the seat to make it useless.

"Yeah? That'd be great." Sara exclaims with enthusiasm and Xander turns to her with a smile on his face.

"I can come back as soon as tomorrow with my tools, and the lumber." He explains and Sara nods.

"Tomorrow sound really good." She says turning away as a sudden tear springs to her eye.

"You'll be my first customer." Xander states as Sara wipes her eyes

and she turns back around.

"Work a bit slow?" She wonders and Xander nods over-exaggerating the movement.

"I think everyone's a bit wary of the new kid in town. I'm from

smallsville USA myself, I know how small towns can work." He says with a shrug and Sara dips her head in agreement.

"Well I'd be happy to be your first customer." Sara says with a grin and Xander is suddenly smiling

"So I'll see you tomorrow." Xander states and after a beat he points to a side passage.

"I'll let myself out this way, I'd hate to get mud on your floors."

He explains and Sara, takes a step forward but stops herself from reaching out and touching Xander the same way one might say farewell to a loved one.

"Well I'll see you tomorrow Alex." Sara states as Xander begins to walk away, but he turns and sends her a brilliant grin.

"Xander." He states. "My friends just call me Xander."

And with that he's gone and Sara watches the side passage where she saw him last. There is a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach and for a moment she thinks that she will vomit, but the feeling simply stays gnawing at the inside of her gut. And as she wraps her arms around herself tightly, she remembers standing outside the closed curtain of a hospital room as a doctor with blood on his coat explained that Charlie was brain dead, that machines were breathing for her son and his heart was still beating but he was dead.

Wandering towards her Father, who has appeared in the garden she remembers standing in a church next to a closed coffin. The bullet that killed her son had done too much damage to his tiny body to allow the family a viewing.

And as she moves into Mike's open arms, she comes to the shocking realisation that she never saw Charlie dead. And a part of her wants to believe now that it's because he's

not, That he's a carpenter and that he's coming back tomorrow to fix a seat.

End Chapter 1.


	3. Fly Away Home

Standard Disclaimer Applies

AN: To WhiteWolf thankyou for all your hardwork.

Chapter 2

To Sara it had just been a bang, and living in a house with an eight year old boy and a man who never grew up Sara was used to things going bang. But her husband, sitting next to her gently caressing her hair, had sat up and from the moment after the bang

Sara could see the fear in Jack's eyes. He after all knew what a gunshot sounded like.

Jack had demanded that she stay down stairs, but she had ignored him because she quite often did and because her Charlie was upstairs.

Jack took the stairs three at a time, with Sara close behind him.

The bedroom door to Charlie's room was open and against the white paint was a bright red spray of droplets.

"Charlie!" Jack had yelled as they ran into the room.

Sara thinks that she remembers screaming, but knows that she went into shock for a moment.

Jack knew what to do and he checked Charlie for a response before checking for his pulse. He had ripped a towel off the back of the door and had pressed it tightly into the wound and as soon as it was in place the white cloth of the towel had started to turn red with blood.

The gun was lying on the floor beside the bed neither parent touched

it, either out of guilt or simply not taking notice of it.

Jack scooped Charlie into his arms and talked to Sara, but to this day she doesn't remember what he said to her. The only thing she remembered was thinking, that Jack was being too calm.

They took the truck to the hospital. Jack was driving wildly through the streets using the horn to clear the traffic and Sara held her son; her silent, blood soaked son.

" Colorado Springs Base Hospital, Airman Holly speaking. How may I direct your call?" A bored young voice asks impassionedly and

Sara snaps out of her daze. She looks down at the notes spread before her on the kitchen table.

"Doctor Eckholt please?" She asks in a calm and collect manner, not that she feels that way at all.

"One moment Ma'am." The voice on the other end tells Sara before coming back with, " I'm sorry Ma'am, but we don't have a Doctor Eckholt working here."

Sara bites her lip as she is reminded cruelly how the most important event in her life means nothing to this bored airman, how the world has moved on and the kind Doctor Eckholt who had held her up when she nearly collapsed on the floor might have moved on.

"There did used to be, about ten years ago. Do you know if you have a number where I can reach him? It's important." Sara asks picking up a pen and nervously doodling in the margin of the paper before her. The paper itself is covered with a series of neatly written questions.

Questions she wants answered.

The sounds of a keyboard being tapped echoes down the line before the

Airman informs her.

" I'm sorry, we have no record of a Doctor Eckholt ever having worked at this hospital."

"No, that's impossible." Sara states in disbelief she can still see the doctor's face clear in her mind as he took Charlie from Jack as they first entered the hospital, he had even called Jack by name.

" Are you sure that you have the right hospital Ma'am? Could you be mistaking us with the Colorado Springs Memorial?" The airman asks as his tone changes to a gentler nature.

" No, Eckholt, E.C.K.H.O.L.T. Please try again?" Sara asks biting her lip, again.

"Again ma'am, I'm sorry. I still have no record of a Doctor

Eckholt." The Airman repeats and Sara disconnects the call in shock, not even saying goodbye.

Before her on the table amongst the papers is a death certificate and she fetches it from beneath a pile of other seemingly important documents and stares at it lying on the table tracing her finger over the name of the signing doctor, Eckholt. What the heck was happening?

Leaving the papers she hurries through the house to her study, where her computer is. She sits in front of it and opens a web page, directing the browser to GOOGLE. She types in the search engine; American directory of doctors. After finding the right link that she can use to search, she types in

'Eckholt' into the search bar. A few tense moment and entries begin popping up. She clicks on the first one, scans the information and disregards it returning to the results page to select the next possibility. She has gone to at least ten more before Mike, her Father finds her frantic behind the computer.

" Honey?" Mike asks as he watches bemused from the doorway at Sara's frantic clicking.

" Doctor Eckholt. He doesn't exist." Sara says as she opens yet another link.

" I don't understand. Who is Doctor Eckholt?" Mike enquires with a frown.

Sara clicks on the last name scans the information and looks up.

" The doctor that pronounced Charlie dead, the one that signed the death certificate. I was going to call him and ask if ... God I don't even know what I was going to ask him, but I called the base hospital and they say, he never worked there!" Sara gets up and Mike shakes his head.

" That doesn't mean he doesn't exist that just means that maybe the records of his employment have been lost, or that maybe..." Mike tries reasoning.

" That maybe he never worked there." Sara interrupts her father.

Sara is worked up now and she pushes past her father back to the kitchen.

"Sara, I thought we agreed this business with Alex was madness?" Mike asks as followed her into the kitchen. Sara ignores him scanning the papers around her looking for something.

" Sara?" Mike asks when Sara doesn't answer.

" I never saw him Dad. I never saw Charlie's body. Never!" She puts the emphasis on the body and turns away from the papers to face Mike.

" What if he didn't die? What if after all these years he's come back? What if this was all a big mistake or maybe the hospital screwed up? Or maybe they were trying to get to Jack? Uh I don't know!" She slumps into a seat exhausted by her sudden outburst and the thoughts that have circulated inside her mind since she meet Alex and reaches out for a piece of paper limply.

" That's a lot of what ifs honey." Mike states then smiles gently at his daughter. " I think that you're getting worked up over something that can't possibly be true. Why would anyone fake the death of an eight year old boy? How could they have faked his death? There were doctors and nurses and orderlies all over that hospital. Don't you think if someone saw people taking Charlie away, they would have noticed? That someone would have seen something?" Mike reasons with his daughter.

Sara's eyes lit up and Mike immediately knows that he has said

Something he shouldn't have.

" You're right!" Sara shouts jumping to her feet, and Mike's eyes widens.

" You're excited 'cause I'm right?" He asks and Sara shakes her head.

" Yes, they couldn't have taken Charlie from the hospital, but they could have done it from the morgue or from the funeral home! " She leans across the tabletop and grabs at a piece of paper.

" That's not what I meant." Mike sighs and Sara snatches the cordless phone from the wooden tabletop.

" Who are you calling?" He asks, half dreading the answer.

" The morgue, if the doctor that performed the autopsy if still there then I'm going to go and speak with him. If he's not and he doesn't exist either then that proves..." Sara stops mid sentence, breathing deeply. It was still too fantastic to be true.

" Proves what?" Mike demands impatiently.

" Dad! Why aren't you excited? Why aren't you intrigued? This is your grandson and I'm telling you that after eleven years he's come home, that he's alive."

" You looked one young man in the face for thirty seconds and you've decided that he's Charlie. Why? " Mike wants to know and Sara stares at him.

" You see it too and don't lie, and say you don't. He has Charlie's eyes, and Charlie's hair color, Dad. He has Charlie's smile. I'm his mother. Are you saying that I wouldn't recognise my own Son? " Sara

shouts hurt.

" Sara," Mike says in a more gentle voice, "I saw a young man, raised in California, who holds some physical similarities to the boy we lost, but he's not Charlie." Mike sounds convinced of his words. "Charlie loved baseball, Alex doesn't even like sports. Charlie wanted to be in the Air force like his dad Alex is a carpenter. "

" People change, people grow out of the things they like to do." Sara argues back.

" Sara, you held him in your arms as Jack drove to the hospital."

Mike's voice cracks with emotion.

"You had his blood on your shirt. Sara, you were holding your son when he died. You were there and you know that he's dead. Don't do this to yourself, not after all these years." Mike pleads taking Sara in his arms but she breaks away.

" I don't think that Charlie's dead, Dad. And I owe it to him to find out what happened. If you're not going to help, then fine. But don't stand in my way. " Sara snaps grabbing at the phone again.

Mike sighs and stands behind her silently as Sara dials a number.

"Colorado Springs Coroners office how can I help you? " A soft voice asks and Sara turns her back on Mike, not wanting to see the hurt look in his face.

"I'm wondering if Doctor Burstein still works there? He was the coroner back in 1990."

" Yes, Doctor Burstein still works here," the receptionist replies and Sara nods in relief to have found somebody who might help her understand what was going on.

" Oh ok, well" Sara starts then hesitates, before continuing having her thoughts more collected Sara asks "I'm wondering if it would be possible for me to come in and meet with him some time this week?"

" May I ask what that would be in regards to?"

" Uh Yes. I'm currently seeing a grief counsellor and he suggested that by interviewing the people that were around my son after he died that might help me to overcome my grief." Sara reads off the piece of

paper filled with question she has rescued from under a pile of formal documents.

" Ahh let me see, oh you know what? I've just had a cancellation for an appointment today. If you could come down straight away I can fit you in." The receptionist is smiling and although Sara can't hear it she can tell by the tone of the receptionists voice.

" Thankyou so much!" Sara exclaims gratefully shooting a triumphant glance at Mike. " I'll be there in twenty minutes."

" Sara," Mike cautions but Sara waves her Dad off as she grabs her purse and heads for the door ignoring her father.

" I'll be fine Dad, after all what's the worst that could happen?"

Sara calls out before she closes rushes out closing the door behind her.

End chapter.

R&R

Like it? Hate it? Let me know so I can change it or keep going in this general direction.


	4. Stop All the Clocks

Chapter 3

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,

Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,

Silence the pianos and with muffled drum

Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

W.H. Auden

Her voice had read the poem with barely a waver and at times after, when she looked back on that day she wondered where on earth she had found the strength.

Jack was a mess, a stoic unemotional, unmoving, unyielding mess. He sat for hours at a time in their son's room, the gun that had killed Charlie cradled in his lap.

It was Sara that had phoned their families, called funeral homes looking for a coffin small enough to hold her son, answered the door to well-wishers and read countless sympathy cards. Sara had chosen the clothes for her son to be buried in, blue jeans, cubs t-shirt, red flannel jacket, cleats.

Sara had cried and sobbed and inside her the anger had built.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;

Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;

Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.

For nothing now can ever come to any good.

W.H. Auden

The morgue is quiet and smells strongly of disinfectant. The receptionist sits in a corner behind a wall of Perspex, her only visible link to the mourners waiting in the stark waiting room a dishevelled microphone hanging from the partition.

"I'm here to see Doctor Burstein," Sara announces into the microphone and the receptionist looks up from her calendar and nods.

"Take a seat, I'll tell him you're here." She instructs Sara, who dutifully sits in one of the hard plastic chairs.

The drive over here had been hazardous; her mind racing from the questions she wanted answered, had nearly caused her to crash several times. Looking up as receptionist calls her name Sara stands clutching her handbag tightly to her.

"The doctor is very busy at the moment and I'm afraid he only has a few minutes to spare for your questions." The receptionist explains as a set of double doors, with no door handle swings open automatically.

"Doctor Burstein's office is the first on the left.

" The receptionist says giving brief instructions before turning and returning to the lobby. Sara takes a deep breath and disappears through the doors.

The Doctor's office is a large rectangular room, with a couch, a desk, a bookcase, a fish tank and work station holding a computer and printer all squashed into it. The resulting effect causes the room to appear claustrophobically small.

Doctor Burstein's a demure man with a balding head of hair and thick tortoise shell rimmed glasses. He wears a white lab coat over a pink pin stripped shirt and a purple tie. An expression of sombre professionalism sits rigidly on his face.

"Mrs O'Neill, please come in. Take a seat." He invited her in as she tapped on his open office door. Sara enters the room and sinks into an arm chair with wooden arm rests and a deep cushion.

A box of tissues sat before her on the desk and in front of the doctor lay a closed file, labelled with Charles O'Neill. God, she hated that name. Charles. But it was Jack's father's name and he had been adamant, so Sara had called her son Charlie instead. Because boys shouldn't have men's names, boys should always be allowed to be boys.

"You didn't mention to my assistant/receptionist what I can do for you specifically?"" Doctor Burstein asks as Sara takes in a deep breath.

"I want to see a photo of my son." She states her voice wavering and the good doctor cocks his head to one side.

"I've reviewed your son's case, Mrs O'Neill and the injuries to your sons face were extensive. The bullet tore through the mandible and shattered the infraorbital foramen before lodging in the brain."

Doctor Burstein gently tells her and Sara looks at the file before him sitting on the desk.

"I understand that, Doctor. But all the same, I would still like to see a photo of my son." Sara restates clearly and the

Doctor shakes his head, reluctant to give in her request

"Mrs O'Neill, your son was killed nearly instantly and he certainly didn't experience any pain. I would strongly recommend that you take comfort from that, rather than putting yourself through the agony of viewing such disturbing material." The Doctor reasons passionately, but again Sara shakes her head.

"No offence, Doctor. But I've given this ten years of thought. I want to see my son. Now." Sara demands as a spark of nervous excitement lights a fire inside her as her brain screamed,

' Why won't he show you the picture?'

"Very well." Doctor Burstein sighs and pushes the file across the desk. It sits closed before Sara for a moment before with trembling hands she reaches for the cardboard folder.

Turning the file around she flicks it open and one hand flies to her mouth instantly in horror.

A little boy lay on a stainless steel table. He was naked and a thin strip of blue cloth had been draped across his pelvis. The photo was taken from the side and the half of the little boys' head visible was a gory mess of torn flesh and matted hair.

Sara's lips trembled as she turned to another page, and tears sprang to her eyes as she looked at the new photo. A blue cloth covered part of the little boy's face and the half uncovered looked almost peaceful save for blue lips and blood staining the skin.

Charlie O'Neill looked as if he was asleep, and for an eternity Sara stared at the photograph before her as her fingertips hovered above the image but didn't come to rest on it.

"I'm sorry, Mrs O'Neill. But I have an autopsy to perform, feel free to take a few minutes to compose yourself."

The doctor says softly and Sara nods vaguely as he leaves the room, briefly stopping to talk with someone just outside the open office door.

It was over. The hope that Sara had felt is gone. There was no way that Alexander could be her son. No way and she knew that now because Charlie was dead. His tiny body irreparably torn apart by a bullet.

She would go home now, apologise to her father for her behaviour and explain to Alex when he arrived the next day, that she would pay him for any materials he had purchased, but she didn't want him to repair her seat.

Sara closes the file and pulls herself to her feet sadly, knocking the folder off the desk causing it to skitter across the floor and the first photo came loose and flew across the linoleum. Sara collects the file first and laid it on the desk before moving to fetch the escaped photograph. Crouching she picks the photograph up, gently between her thumb and index finger, before moving across the room to return it to the desk, she stops half way to her destination transfixed by the image before her.

Breaking her stare from the photograph she glances around nervously before slipping the photo into her pocket as the receptionist taps on the wooden doorframe. For a moment Sara thought that her thievery might have been spotted, but the receptionist simply smiles at her.

"If you're ready, I'll escort you out?" She tells Sara and she nods quietly wiping her eyes gently with a tissue plucked from the doctor's desk.

"Please thank Doctor Burstein for me?" She asks limply and the receptionist smiles, before she leads Sara back to the automatically swinging doors and then she watches unmoving as Sara leaves the building and it's awful smell behind.

Sara hurries to her car and with shaking hands manages to force the key into the ignition and start the vehicle. The old town car stalls as she attempts to leave the parking lot. Sara makes herself take a deep breath before she restarts the ignition again and heads away from the morgue.

Within travelling three blocks the trembling in Sara's hands has moved up into her arms and after five blocks she's forced to pull over suddenly. No longer confident of driving even a further twenty feet. To calm herself she tries deep breathing, sucking air in through her nose and counting internally to four before exhaling, but with each held breath she feels as if she's suffocating and the breath inside hiccups until it escapes.

A trembling hand fumbles at her handbag and she snatches her purse from inside, barely able to open the catch. She can't overcome the hurdle of the money holder for an agonising moment before the purse falls open and Charlie grinned at her, from behind the plastic of the photo holder.

They probably thought that she wouldn't look. Probably hadn't counted on her tenacity and stubborn nature. Probably had never ever counted on her coming back.

She slips her hand into her jacket pocket, now and withdraws the glossy photo of the autopsy and she holds it up besides the photo in her purse. Her breathing remains uneven and uneasy, her hands still tremble uncontrollably and tears roll unashamedly down her face.

Charlie grinned at her from under the peak of a baseball cap.

A little boy lies naked and exposed and mortally wounded.

Charlie's eyes sparkled and the sunlight glinted off the earring he had insisted vehemently he be allowed to wear. The fake gold hoop a parents concession to this newest craze.

A little boy's single eye is open. His eyelid is torn and blood has clotted on the fragile lashes. The single orb is unmoving, lifeless and blue.

End chapter 3.


	5. Wolf at the Door

Chapter 4

Standard Disclaimer Applies

AN: Whitewolf your continued support makes me feel all gooshy inside. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed I'm simply blown away by the number of people who are reading this story.

Chapter 4

Jack was a changed man when he came back from his mission. Not that it mattered, the marriage was already over. Over because neither party could talk to the other; over because he never came out and said it out loud and Sara blamed jack for the loss they had suffered but wouldn't say it out loud either.

Jack was the love of Sara's life, her one and only and no one after had ever seemed as special and they never lived up to him. There were still even now nights in the dark cold of winter when she would roll over in bed and dream that he would be there, she would reach for him on those nights only her hand would find the empty pillow then the pain  
would feel just as sharp as those first few days when he was gone and she was left alone in an empty house full of painful memories.

Finally Mike seeing the sadness in his daughter's face and the desperation in her eyes announced that he would be moving in. He hadn't asked and she was glad of that.

Sara doesn't know how she made it home, only knows that it took a long time and that now she is staring up at her home, but can't find the strength to walk to the door. Her mind has been racing ever since she realised that the body photographed as her dead son, was not  
Charlie.

Mike is walking towards the car when she looks up again and he pulls her door gently open.

"Honey?" He asks squatting down despite the twinge, behind seventy odd year old knees.

" It's not him." Sara gets out after a moment and leans heavily against the now closed car door and Mike sighs.

" We knew that baby, knew it couldn't be him."

" No Dad! You don't understand. " Sara tells him sternly with a shake of her head and Mike looks at her questioningly but doesn't speak.

Gently Sara pulls the autopsy photo from her pocket and she shoves it towards her father who outwardly gasps as he sees it and turns away.

" Look at it." Sara commands shoving the photo in her father's sight, who closes his eyes.

" This is not the way I want to remember my grandson." He fires back and Sara glares at him.

" Look at it!" She shouts and Mike drags his gaze to the photo, reluctantly.

" What do you see?" Sara asks, while her voice is shaking.

"Charlie." Mike states and Sara hands him the second photo, the happy Charlie.

" Look at them together. Look at their eyes." Sara instructs as she turns to watch her Father who inspects both photos dutifully and who is about to hand them back, when he literally stops.

" You see too, don't you?" Sara asks begging for confirmation.

"Oh, my God!" Mike exclaims as he looks up at his daughter.

"This isn't Charlie." He confirms indicating the photo of the dead boy. "Charlie's eyes were brown, this boy has blue eyes. Where did you get this?"

"The doctor that performed the autopsy had it in a file; Charlie's file. I noticed his eyes, when it fell on the floor. He doesn't know, that I know." Sara replied as she finally pulled herself away from the car.

"Alex could be Charlie Dad." She slams the car door hard.

" Sara don't jump to conclusions, all we know at the moment is…" Mike trails off, because he's unsure of what exactly the photo means.

"We should call Jack." He finishes and Sara snatches the photo from him.

"No!" She snaps tucking the photo back into her pocket.

"Why on earth not? He could help us to figure out what the hell is going on." Mike reasoned not understandings his daughter's motives.

"Who would fake the death of our little boy Dad? It certainly wasn't people at the accounting firm I worked at was it? No, it had to have something to do with Jack, " She is walking back to the house her brain ticking over in thought now,

"something to do with the mission he went on, maybe they were using Charlie as leverage to get Jack to do a mission." Sara continues stopping at the steps to her house.

"What if he knew?" She demands suddenly and Mike came to a standstill beside her.

"What if Jack knew what?" He questions.

"What if Jack knew that Charlie wasn't dead? What if that's why he went on that bloody mission, when I needed him so much at home? He went because he thought he could get Charlie back, and he couldn't" She is rambling now, " That's why he left us, he couldn't stop them or he couldn't get Charlie back and he couldn't be around me knowing what he'd done."

Mike is staring at his daughter and she knows she sounds like a lunatic but she doesn't care and continues.

"I never told you this, but when Jack came to the house that time. When he was sick and I had to take him to the hospital. I saw Charlie there."

"What?" Mike demands in shock.

"Jack took him away after Charlie came and said goodbye to me. One of Jack's Airforce  
doctors told me that I was exposed to a toxin and that I was hallucinating. But what if I wasn't?" Sara demands and now she is angry.

"How could he do that!" She demands at a shout, " How could he keep Charlie for himself! Didn't he know what I was going through? I could barely make it through the day Dad, and all that time! All that time he knew!" Tears stream down her face and Mike reaches out to hug her, but she knocks him away.

" Sara, you know Jack. Jack would never intentionally hurt you." Mike reasons and Sara explodes.

" He left a loaded gun lying around for an nine year old boy to find!" She can barely speak through her sobs as they choke her words and close her throat.

"He left! I needed him so badly and he left. Why did he leave? If he would never hurt me, then why would he leave?" She shouted and Mike gives a small shake of his head.

"What are you going to do?" He asks finally after several moments when Sara looked to have calmed down a little.

" Tomorrow, when Alex comes I'm going to tell him. Tell him that he's mine and I'm not going to tell Jack. He had Charlie all these years, well it's my turn now." She states bitterly before turning on her heel and stalking inside the house.

Mike let out a deep breath with as much force he could muster and wandered over to the railing of the porch, grabbing it with both hand he pushed against it as he leaned forward and looked out at the street.

The noise of children playing crept to his ears, somewhere a dog barked and a black SUV steered itself out of the curb and rolled down the street. He would call Jack, Mike decided to himself. The man should know if there was a possibility his son was still alive and despite his daughter's hysterical claim Mike didn't believe that Jack would have ever willingly kept Charlie from Sara. Jack's number was inside somewhere, he'd given it to them a couple of years ago when he dropped by to collect a box he kept in the attic.

Tomorrow Mike would track the number down and ring Jack. Tomorrow.

End Chapter 4.

AN: So what do we think, time to bring Jack in? Time for more Sara and Xander one on one? The action starts soon let me know how I'm going and review!


	6. Don't kill the messenger

Standard Disclaimer Applies

Read and then Review. Please.

Chapter 5

Mike could never understand the pain that Sara went through and since the only way he ever would understand would be to lose her, his child, he didn't want to. However he could see that his daughter was falling apart and the breakdown of her marriage would have been the final nail in her coffin so he moved into her house so that he could take care of her, most of the time however it was Sara that looked after him.

Jack's number sits before him on a scrap of paper and besides the paper sits the phone and even though Mike is holding the handset he can't punch in the numbers because he doesn't know what he could say.

How does he tell Jack there is a chance Charlie is alive, when he barely believes it himself? When he has seen the evidence of a strange little boy lying dead on a table and had met Xander who has Charlie's smile?

Outside Mike's den Sara paces the hallway waiting for Xander to arrive, he hasn't said when he would be coming by to fix the garden seat and Sara has woken at the crack of dawn eager to see her son and to fill him in on the truth. Mike runs his tongue over his teeth and starts hitting the numbers on the phone. It is Saturday and

Jack should be at home but knowing Jack there was little chance the man was even there.

" O'Neill." A voice barks down the receiver and Mike slams the handset down like a love sick teenager calling his first crush.

The phone rings less then a minute later and Mike picks it up still lost in thought.

"Mike speaking." He mumbles into the phone.

"Mike, it's Jack what's wrong?" For a moment Mike is stuck unable to decide what to do.

" Sorry Jack?"

" You just called me Mike, so what's going on?" Jack demands the playfulness often found in his voice missing.

" Uh," Mike sighs not knowing where to start.

" Is Sara all right?"

" She's fine, that's not really what I wanted to talk with you about." Mike begins.

" Go on," Jack encourages him and Mike looks back to the doorway to his den as Sara paces past the doorway again.

" Not over the phone Jack. Can I meet you in town?" Mike asks in a hushed tone.

" Very clandestine Mike," Jack retorts to which Mike snaps.

" Can you meet me or not?"

" I'll be at Joe's diner in a half hour and you better tell me what the heck is going on." Jack states.

" All right half an hour, I'll see you there." Mike disconnects the call and stands up from his chair.

Sara has paced back to her own study, but Mike manages to locate the autopsy photo from Sara's coat where she has left it yesterday.

Holding it he looks at the eye of the dead boy again. Who was this child? Were his parents still holding out hope that their son would come knocking on their door?

" I'm headed out Sara." Mike calls out as he replaces the photo. He wants to call out a warning for Sara not to tell Alex that he could be Charlie but the pair had spent most of the night arguing over the same topic and he doesn't want to start that particular fight again.

Jack is already in the diner by the time that Mike has slowly navigated the streets of Colorado Springs and circled the block the diner sat on four times. Despite having a half hour to think of what he could tell Jack he is still struggling to think of an opening to the conversation, or for that matter a middle and an end.

Jack has greyed considerably since Mike saw him last, but he still looks the same, a few extra wrinkles around the eyes but he looks up and gives Mike the same wry smile he used to give him all those years ago.

" Mike," Jack says as he stands and the two men share a quick and manly embrace, patting each other on the back wordlessly.

" You look good Jack," Mike tells his ex-son-in-law as he slides into the booth opposite where Jack is tucking into a stack of pancakes.

" You too Mike, you too." Jack replies retrieving his knife from a puddle of syrup and stranding it on the side of his plate.

" So Mike, why am I here?" Jack asks bluntly and Mike stares at the man before him and he runs a hand through his hair.

" It's kind of a difficult situation, awkward." Mike starts and Jack nods seriously and Mike is stuck as to what to say.

" Mike?" Jack asks after a moment's silence and Mike looks around the diner.

" I think I'll just get a coffee," he states hoping the rich black liquid will help to clear his head.

The waitress is over the opposite side of the diner and Mike tries to catch her eye for a few seconds before turning back to Jack, Jack however never willing to give up on a challenge is holding his coffee cup aloft and the waitress sees the ridiculous motioning Jack is doing and nods indicating with the coffee pot that she will be right with the duo.

Mike misses this though, because he is examining the weathered face of Jack and trying to match the characteristics he sees before him in the face of Alex. The only sounds around them are the general chatter of other Saturday morning patrons and Mike looks up as a boy in a baseball uniform ran past the table. His baseball shoes clattering on the tiled floor of the diner.

Then Mike catches Jack glance at the boy as well and for a second there is a look of longing behind Jack's eyes and Mike recognises it because he sees the same look in Sara, when she watches parents with their children at the mall.

" Jack," Mike starts because he knows now that there is no way a man could have hidden his son from Sara and still gets that look of longing.

Jack turns back to face Mike.

" I need you to come back to the house with me, I have to show you something." Mike says in as serious tone as he can muster.

Jack looks across the table and into Mike's eyes and he nods once.

" Ok, Mike. What is it?" Jack asks.

" It's about Charlie." Mike explains and for a moment Jack is silent.

" What about Charlie?" Jack asks his eyes searching Mikes for any clue

" I think it would be better if I show you."


	7. A picture is worth more

Standard Disclaimer Applies

AN: let the action begin. WhiteWolf extra thanks for helping with the double post for this week.

Chapter 6

The divorce had been disgustingly amicable, Jack had offered the house and contents to Sara and taken only his car and clothes.

Everything else he had left returning to the house occasionally to fetch an item out of the attic.

They had stayed in contact for a few months, calling to check how the other was and skirting the issue of love, the military and loss. This didn't leave a whole lot to talk about and eventually the calls petered out and stopped all together.

Occasionally they would see each other in town, but from what Sara understood Jack spent the majority of time at the base and any spare time was devoted to fishing and being alone. Apart from that they would nod at each other across the street offering a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek but these situations became a rarity.

Xander hadn't said more then two words when he arrived and Sara is waiting in the dying afternoon light of the day after her revelation to speak with him. Not sure of why she's waiting, but too afraid to approach Xander first for fear of rejection.

A knock on the front door snaps her out of her daze and she waits for

Mike to answer without moving, but the knocking increases in intensity and volume and soon turns to pounding and still Mike hasn't answered. Until Sara remembers that he has gone to run an errand in town, prior to leaving he instructed Sara to think about what she was going to do before she rushed into anything. Since then she has been unable to think of anything else.

There is a glass panel in the front door, but Sara can't make out who her visitor is because they are standing out of view. But because she lives in Colorado Springs and because she is not a suspicious person she opens the door wide.

Doctor Burstein bursts into the house, pushing Sara to one side and closing the door in one movement.

" Doctor? What are you doing?" Sara demands harshly as the doctor peers through the glass panelling out at the street before turning to Sara.

" Where is it?" He asks bluntly and Sara shakes her head.

" What?" She asks confused because she can't imagine a lost photo causing the panic she sees in the doctor.

" You know what! The photo. Where is the photo?" The doctor demands as he peers around moving into the living room and knocking a pile of papers to the floor as he shifts through them.

" What the hell are you doing?" Sara asks in a squeak as Doctor Burstein turns and Sara is pushed into a wall.

" I need that photo Sara. Tell me where it is? Do you know what will happen if they find that missing?" Burstein threatens nervously.

" Who?" Sara demands seeing an opening into a line of questions she desperately wants answered, "the people that took Charlie? The people that faked his death?" She enquires and Doctor Burstein knocks her back against the wall with a shove that makes her bang the back of her head sharply against the wall. The man looks terrified as he yells.

"Don't you say that! You don't know anything! Tell me where the photo is or you'll be sorry." He is holding her against the wall now and she struggles to free herself from the surprising strength of the

Doctor.

" Get off me!" She yells in a panic before he slaps a hand over her mouth and leans in closer.

"They will kill me. They will kill you and if they find out where the boy is, they will kill him too!" Burstein yells menacingly and then he is gone.

A blur of brown and skin and before Sara can comprehend what is happening Xander has Burstein pinned face up on the ground the boy's knee resting heavily on the doctor's stomach, one hand wrapped around

Bernstein's throat and the other has one of the doctor's wrists captured tightly in its grasp. The wrist is being forced back at an unnatural angle freezing the doctor in place.

" Sara, are you all right?" Xander asks without looking up and when

Sara doesn't answer out of shock, he turns and fixes her with a strong gaze.

" Sara?" He asks and she nods dumbly. He had moved so quickly and made no noise the stealth he used reminding her of Jack and she is glad that Xander is there to help but frightened of the situation all at once.

"They'll find him! They'll kill him!" Burstein is yelling and Xander turns his gaze back to his captive.

" Keep yelling and you'll die long before the boy." Xander states softly his grip tightening around the doctor's throat and there is a look in Xander's eye that nearly causes Burstein to lose control over his bladder.

" What did you do?" Sara asks as she regains control of her composure and storms forward, "to Charlie? What did you do?" She asks again in

a shout and Xander stares at her as if he is about to say something, but he looks down at the doctor and decides not to.

" Why did you take him?" Sara is demanding and Doctor Burstein is having trouble answering so Xander loosens his grip around the man's throat and he gasps in a deep breath before answering.

" To save him." Doctor Burstein croaks.

" To save him? You stole him!" Sara screams in fury advancing on the doctor and hitting him with her arms as she lands on top of him and

Xander.

There is a tangle of arms and legs and the doctor grunts in pain as he is hit repeatedly and Sara strikes out again this time catching

Xander up side the face and he barely flinches as her engagement ring catches the skin under his eye drawing blood but Sara recoils as she strikes her son.

" I'm sorry," she gasps horrified and Xander shakes his head to clear the pain of the fist hitting his face, blood drips down his cheek.

" Oh god, Charlie, I'm sorry." Sara gasps again as she collapses away from the men and falls against the wall and the room falls under a blanket of instant silence.

Xander is staring at Sara his mouth open in shock at what she has just said, underneath him Burstein is also in shock.

" What did you just call me?" Xander finally asks his voice cracking.

Sara doesn't answer she is horrified at what she has just said, angry at herself for her tactless mistake.

" Sara?" Xander prompts and she finally brings herself to look at him and it is like a force knocking into her as she realises that he is not angry, not confused but very interested.

" Xander I'm sorry, I didn't want to tell you like this but I think that you might be my son." Sara finally gushes and tears of relief

and frustration come to her eyes and roll down her face.

There is silence for another moment and finally Xander smiles a grin.

" God!" He breathes, " I've been thinking that exact same thing."

" No! No!" Burstein yells suddenly thrashing about under Xander and dislodging Xander from his position before he scrambls for the door. Xander is thrown backwards awkwardly, but he jumps to his feet and scurries after the doctor grabbing him by the back of the shirt, hauling him to his feet and slamming him against the wall.

" If you don't mind, I'm trying to have a conversation." He quips inappropriately.

" They can't find out! They can't" The Doctor says in a hushed voice and Xander turns to look at Sara before asking.

" Who can't? Who are they? Why did you do it?" Xander demands in a strong voice and the doctor shakes his head back and forwards repeatedly perhaps wondering how the situation has gone so wrong so quickly for him.

" It wasn't me! It wasn't us! We wanted to stop it, but we couldn't.

He would have killed us." Burstein explodes and his head sags, " I'm a dead man," He whispers in despair and Xander shrugs.

" Then there's no point you not telling me everything you know."

Xander reasons.

" Oh my god! They're going to kill me!" The doctor shrieks as he knees Xander in the groin. Xander manages to pre-empt the movement somewhat and shift slightly away, but the attack allows Burstein to break free and takes off down the hallway and pulls open the front door to escape.

Xander starts to hobble after him as Burstein pushes past Mike and a silver haired man wearing a pair of sunglasses on a loop a plain ratty black t-shirt and a pair of jeans rolled up at the bottoms. The pair has been pushed to one side and are standing mystified on the porch staring after Burstein, as he races across the grass. Jack turns towards the house.

" Sara?" He calls out moving forward into the house to try and find his ex-wife.

" Move!" Xander commands as he sprints past his Father, vaults the railing and takes off after Burstein.

Back on the porch Sara emerges from the house shaken and Jack grabs her by the arm just above the elbow gently.

" Sara, what's going on?" He asks and they all spin around suddenly

as the loud scream of rubber trying to grip the road echoes in the air, and Sara and Jack both turn before Sara gasps and races down the stairs.

" What the hell is going on?" Jack mutters to himself before following.

End Chapter 6.

R&R. The action has started do you like where it's going? Want to see more emotional stuff?


	8. Don't rock the Cradle

Standard Disclaimer Applies

AN: Thanks WhiteWolf. Thanks to all those who review you give me fodder for the next chapter.

Chapter 7

After the death of her son Sara became a regular at the playgrounds and baseball diamonds that scattered the Colorado Springs area. Watching for hours at an end as the lively young children screamed and played, still innocent, carefree and alive.

Her visits were punishment for her, punishment for not knowing what her son had been doing the day he died, for not watching him as he investigated his Father's gun. And as she watched the peewee teams at baseball she thought over and over, how could I have taken my eyes off him?

Burstein's car is speeding down the street and Xander is rolling on the ground from where he was thrown as he leapt out of the way of the speeding car.

"Xander, are you ok?" Sara yells as she races towards her son and Xander nods and accepts Sara's hand as she helps him to his feet.

"He got away." Xander states disappointed and Sara shakes her head.

"It doesn't matter, what matters is that we're both ok." Xander nods with a sigh and looks over Sara's shoulder.

"What the hell is going on?" Jack demands advancing on Xander and Sara stands in front of her son to prevent Jack getting to him.

"That guy tried to rob me, Xander came to my rescue!" She quickly comes up with an excuse but Jack is not looking at Sara, he is looking at Xander after a minute his gaze returns to his former wife.

"I'd come up with a better story then that." Jack quips and Sara stares at her Father for a moment.

"What are you doing here Jack?" Sara suddenly demands changing tactics and Jack fixes her with a piercing stare.

Behind her Xander jumps as he comes to realise that the man arguing with Sara is in fact his Father.

"Mike called me, said I needed to come over. He said it was about Charlie." Jack explains and Sara glares at Mick as he arrives on the footpath with the family.

"What did you tell him?" Sara demands of her Father and Jack interrupts.

"What's going on Sara?"

Sara can only glance between Xander, Mike and Jack unsure of what to do. Jack now angry opens his mouth to say something else but Sara beats him to it.

"He tried..." Sara starts to say again limply and this time Jack interrupts.

"Bullshit! Robbers don't drive BMWs and they certainly don't wearArmani. " Jack spits

" Well not the bad ones anyway." Xander mutters and Sara fixes her son with a stern gaze, Jack glares at Xander for a moment as the younger man fights back a smile.

"Who was he?" Jack asks gesturing over his shoulder to the now empty road.

"He didn't leave his name." Sara retorts in the same tone she used to find so irritating coming from Jack.

"You don't think I'll find out?" Jack asks and Sara sighs staring at the man she loved before answering.

"Doctor Burstein." Sara admits quietly and Jack literally stops for a moment.

"The coroner?" He asks quietly and for a moment Sara wants to demand how he knew that, when she had to look the fact up but Jack's memory was always better then hers.

"Sara!" Jack demands raising his voice, because Sara hasn't answered. "Why is the Colorado Spring's Coroner breaking into your house?"

Sara looks over her shoulder at Xander, the blood on his cheek is smeared across his face as he has wiped at the wound.

"We should clean that up." Sara states handing Xander a handkerchief she kept in her pocket.

"For Godsake! Will someone tell me what the hell is going on?" Jack shouts impatiently.

Mother and Son share another glance, each as unsure as the other about what to say.

"I took something from his office." Sara finally admits and Jack narrows his eyes.

"You stole something from Burstein's office?"

Sara nods and Jack shakes his head.

"What did you take?"

"Does it matter what she took?" Xander asks holding the cloth to his face and bravely staring Jack down.

"When I want your input I'll ask for it." Jack snaps and repeats. "What did you take?"

Sara bites her lip and looks down.

"It's about Charlie." She whispers and Jack closes his eyes briefly.

"Mike told me that much, now what about Charlie?"

Sara stares at the ground unable to find the words before finally continuing.

"He's not dead, Jack."

"Excuse me?" Jack demands astonished by the words that have just come from his wife's lips.

"I said, Charlie's not dead." Sara repeats firmer.

"I heard what you said Sara, I'm just trying to figure out the nicest way to say, Are you nuts!" Jack demands in disbelief unable to fully comprehend the words his wife were telling him.

"God, Jack don't do that!" Sara snaps and Jack raises an eyebrow as she elaborates, "act like you could care less. Your son is alive Jack. He's alive!"

"Alive?" Jack confirms in disbelief and Sara nods.

"Sara you know that that's not possible." Jack reasons,

"I don't know how Jack, all I know is that he's come back to us. After all these years our son has come home." Her hand reaches behind her and grazes Xander's arm.

Jack focuses on Xander.

"This is your doing?" He threatens and Xander shakes his head.

"What did you think, you could do, cheat her out of a bit of money?" Jack shouts and pushes past Sara to grab Xander by the front of the shirt. The cheap cloth of Xander's shirt rips as Jack pulls the young man towards him.

"She's been hurt enough, she doesn't need you stirring up the past!" Jack yells angrily.

"Whoa Jack!" Mike shouts as he races to stop Jack from hurting Xander, who had already proven himself quite capable of defending himself, has not even lifted his arms to ward off his father.

"Leave him alone!" Sara shouts as she tries to move herself between Jack and Xander. The foursome scuffle awkwardly on the lawn with Mike trying to grab Jack's arms and Sara trying to move between her son and ex-husband trying to push them apart.

"Let him go Jack." Mike commands.

Jack lets go of Xander when it becomes clear to him that Sara could get hurt and as soon as Xander has been freed she ushers him back to stand in front of him. Her smaller body not obscuring the two men's view of each other.

"Go away Jack!" Sara shouts as Xander stares blankly at Jack from over the top of Sara's head.

Jack is livid and it's all he can do not to grab the man conning Sara and pound him into the ground. Jack steps forward again and Mike grabs a hold of his arm.

"Jack," Mike is suddenly the voice of reason and Jack turns towards him as he continues, "Jack I know this all sounds insane, but it'll make sense once I show you the photo." Jack shakes his head and Mike points to the house.

"Come on Jack. Come and see."

End Chapter 7.

R&R like it? Hate it? The tense starting to grate on the nerves? Will I can't fix it if I don't know.


	9. Do you Believe?

Standard Disclaimer Invariably Applies

AN: Big thanks to WhiteWolf you taught me amongst other things how to spell Goa'uld. Thanks for all your hard work.

Chapter 8

Chasing the internally haunted Scar across the far reaches of the galaxy, standing alongside Teal'c as he fought to keep his family safe from the Goa'uld, even watching Danny's back and making sure his friend wasn't hurt off world, these were the ways that Jack had coped with learning to live without his son.

Today watching Sara shield a strange man with her body, Jack couldn't help but feel responsible because it was clear while he was working out his grief amongst the stars removing his guilt piece by piece by piece, Sara had been languishing in hers here.

Mike has lead him toward the house and Jack walks after him looking over his shoulder at where Sara still standing in front of Xander is glaring at Jack. Xander is watching him too, but if he couldn't read anything from the young man close up, he certainly can't decipher his intentions from a distance.

"He won't hurt her." Mike says suddenly still looking forward and Jack is caught off guard. He turns and jogs a little to catch up to the older man.

"Why aren't you putting a stop to this?" He demands and Mike glances back at him for a moment.

"You'll see," is all Mike says and heads into the house.

Jack frowns his disapproval but follows.

The front hallway has been upturned, a table lies on its side and broken porcelain pieces of a vase scatter the hallway. The flowers it once held broken on the carpet and the petals stepped into the ground. Jack and Mike pick their way through the mess carefully.

"What was Burstein looking for?" Jack asks as he follows Mike past the living room the papers still on the floor blowing in the breeze of the open door.

"It's a photograph." Mike explains as he reaches Sara's coat and collects the photo from the pocket, "Sara got it from Charlie's file yesterday afternoon, after she met Xander for the first time."

"She what?" Jack retorts in surprise and Mike nods.

"She met Xander yesterday morning and got it in her head that he was Charlie. Thought that she'd recognised him and wouldn't be persuaded otherwise."

"So he didn't start this?" Jack asks in surprise and Mike shakes his head.

"No, he didn't say anything. But after she met him she called the doctor at the base hospital and discovered that he didn't work there anymore and arranged a meeting with Doctor Burstein yesterday afternoon, she noticed this when the photograph fell onto the floor, it's a bit graphic Jack." Mike warns as he hands over the photo.

The colour drains from Jack's face and he closes his eyes after a moment. A career of seeing and inflicting death and he is still unprepared for the shocking image of his son lying exposed on a cold steel table.

"Why on earth would she take this?" He wonders out loud and Mike points at the photo.

"That's what I said, but look closely at the colour of the eye, it's blue." Mike shows Jack by pointing out the mistake with a weathered hand.

Jack forces himself to look at the photograph of his son's body again and his stomach flips inside as he sees what Mike is showing him. The boy in the photograph clearly had a blue eye. His stomach clenches in shock as he looks past Mike toward the front lawn where through the open door he can see Sara and Xander talking.

He pictures in his mind a little boy with a smile that lights up a room, he sees a little boy bouncing on him as he tries to sleep in Sunday mornings, he sees a little boy covered in blood motionless on the floor in his bedroom a gun lying less then a foot away. The soldier inside forces these feelings down, they are of no use now. He'll deal with them later.

"So they got the wrong photograph in the file that doesn't prove anything." Jack states flatly handing the photo back.

"I thought that myself, but why would the good doctor go to the length of attacking Sara and trashing this house to retrieve it, if this was just a clerical error?" Mike questions scanning the damage in the hallway where they stand and looking back up at Jack.

Jack is quiet and he frowns in thought as the analytical side of him works through what Mike is suggesting.

"My god!" Jack exclaims and then shakes his head, rubbing at his tired eyes with a single hand.

"What are we saying, that there is a chance that Charlie is alive?" He asks out loud, Mike looks at him and then shrugs and Jack sees the same confusion he is feeling in Mike.

"That's what I tried to tell Sara but she's convinced Alex is Charlie and ... try as I might I'm starting to see it myself." Jack looks at the older man willing him to go on.

"When I left this morning Sara was going to confront Alex. If she has then I don't know what his response was. I was talking to you in town Mike finishes and Jack wanders to the open doorway.

"So why were you coming to me, if you didn't know before?" Jack asks watching as Sara smiles in response to something Xander says and then she glances at the house nervously.

"She thinks that you knew, Jack."

"What?" Jack demands.

"She said that she saw you with Charlie some years ago at the hospital. She's got it into her head that you were keeping him to yourself." Mike explains gently and Jack turns.

"That's insane! I would never keep Charlie from Sara!"

"I tried to tell her and she wouldn't listen Jack. That's why I called you because she wasn't going to."

"She thinks that I'm responsible?" Jack states and takes off out the door.

"Jack wait!" Mike calls out, but Jack is already down the steps and moving across the lawn.

Xander's head snaps up as he sees Jack comes toward them and as he nears Mother and Son he slows down. Sara moves her body back to where it was when Jack left, blocking Charlie from his Father.

"You thought that I would keep Charlie from you?" Jack demands more upset then angry and Sara steps forward.

"Weren't you?" Sara demands and Jack shakes his head vigorously.

"No!"

"What about the hospital then Jack?" Sara demands angrily.

"I told you, that was a hallucination." Jack explains it is a lie but he has become so adapt at it over the years it is nearly impossible to tell.

"Does this look like a hallucination to you?" Sara demands in a shout gesturing to Xander, who stands by awkwardly watching his birth parents argue.

"You really think that this is Charlie?" Jack snaps shaking his head in disbelief.

"I think I might be." Xander replies and Jack looks at him angrily.

"Why?" He orders and Xander shakes his head not understanding the question, "Why do you think you're Charlie?" Jack demands.

"You have photographs of me as a little kid in the house and I remember the garden, the broken seat." Xander explains and Jack takes a sharp breath in due to a mixture of shock, anger and disbelief.

"Why didn't you come home sooner?" Sara asks suddenly from between the two men and her eyes have filled with tears and Xander looks at her in despair.

"I didn't remember." He starts and Sara begins to cry.

"Sara, be reasonable." Jack warns as he shakes his head.

"You still won't believe?" She asks in disbelief and Jack looks at Xander critically.

The hair is the same colour and the eyes, but Jack doesn't see the child he knew in this man, his son was a bundle of joy so filled with happiness, it seemed as if he never stopped smiling. Before him is a man and a man only a man he doesn't know. Jack looks away.

"I'm sorry if you think that you've found your parents, but my son is dead. He died a long time ago." Jack tells Xander and then with a heavy heart Jack walks away.

Feeling like his insides have been ripped from his chest, wrapped in barbed wire and stuffed back in. His throat feels tight and for a moment he is worried that he's about to have a heart attack. Most of all however under all of this he feels an intense anger that builds and builds. Walking away is the only thing he can think of doing that won't lead to him doing something rash.

Mike approaches, as life on the quiet street moves on, it's a Saturday afternoon and kids scream as they play in yards and a black SUV rolls slowly down the street the sun glinting off the side mirrors causing to Jack to stop and glance at it for a second as it accelerates around the corner and disappears.

"Jack!" Sara calls after him but Jack starts walking again, "Jack!"

He has seen the great pyramids of Egypt in their glory days, travelled further into dark recess of space than any man could imagine and played games of life and death with 'gods'. He has been regenerated to full health after suffering grave injuries and watched intelligent machines and aliens alike try and take over the world. After all that he has been through, all that he has done, all he has seen he won't believe in the impossible right here on earth. Because he knows there is no one on this planet that could have brought his son back to life and no one who could have kept it a secret from him.

As Jack climbs back into his truck silently and heads away Xander can only watch him go and mutter in a dead pan under his breath.

"Bye Dad."

End.

AN: Thanks for the reviews, keep it up. Let me know what you think, if you like where I'm taking this.


	10. He's behind you!

Standard Disclaimer Applies

AN: I apologize for the heinously long break between chapters but I went away for a month and made the assumption that I would have ready access to a PC and the Internet, this was not however the case. So this is just a short update to let you know I'm still alive, still writing and still passionate about this fic.

Thanks to the Wolf

Chapter 9

It was a dream that had started late one night after thwarting another half-breed demon intent on taking over a chunk of Sunnydale and reigning evil down upon it. A dream so vivid that when he awoke with a start he couldn't be sure that he'd been asleep at all and put it down to a delusion brought about by a lack of sleep and another blow to the head.

Then the dream had turned into dreams and they would come to him most nights, images of Sara, images of the swing set in the back yard, the feeling of being hugged close to a woman who would whisper loving nothings into the top of his head.

The dreams kept him awake unable to resume sleep once he had woken from the visions and finally he had gone to Willow for help. Willow, whose magical was increasing steadily had concocted a spell to make Xander remember past lives. After all they both believed that what Xander was actually experiencing, was the memory of a prior existence.

The spell had worked in a flash of confusing images of house, garden, bedroom and a woman screaming a name, "Charlie!"

Now when the dream kept him awake at night he would scroll through the 24 million search results he had gotten from typing Charlie into a search engine, whittling them away by discarding references to Charlie and Chocolate Factory, Charlie Chaplin and the musician Charlie Parker he had then started at the top and started to open the remaining 11 million pages.

It had taken a while, a lot of long nights clicking, scanning, and discarding, until one page he opened was an old newspaper article detailing the accidental shooting of a boy called Charlie O'Neill resulting in his death. There was a picture attached to the article that had made his heart miss a beat. A picture of Xander as a child.

Willow had been enlisted to help hack into every record existing on the O'Neill family until Willow was just as confused as Xander not only by the lack of information she could find but by the content. How could this be? If Xander was adopted then why didn't he remember this previous family? Why hadn't anyone ever mentioned this to him before? Xander approached the subject with his Mother, who recanted a previously told tale of her lengthy labour and rebuffed his half-joking announcement that he had been adopted.

The confusion grew and grew until it began to consume Xander, to invade his every thought, to become an obsession until he had to take the next step and go to Colorado Springs and investigate further.

The quest had lead him to his Mother's door and lead him to where he was now, standing on the porch in the dusk of night two days after being rejected by his Father. After two days of answering important questions with inconsequential answers, of lying about his happy up bringing, of soothing Sara's frazzled nerves.

A car door in the street slams shut and Xander breaks from his reverie to smile at Sara as she approaches the house,

" You send it off all right?" He asks referring to the home DNA kit the pair had completed that afternoon.

" Yeah, it said average four weeks for the results, then we can take them to Jack and he should ah…" Sara trails off because she can't predict with any real certainty, what Jack's reaction will be to proof his son is alive.

" I finished the seat." Xander says and looks up at the few stars that have collected in the sky.

"Want to take it for a test run?" Xander asks Sara who nods with a smile.

" I went by the morgue." Sara says as they stroll through the house,

" By yourself?" Xander asks sharply and Sara nods,

" It is the middle of the day and it was crowded with lots of potential witness's." Sara says with a smile and Xander rolls his eyes,

" And?" He asks

" Dr. Burstein is out of the office and the receptionist doesn't know when he'll be back." Sara says and Xander sighs.

" Dr. Burstein is gone, taking along with him any information that we could have gotten out of him." Xander says with a sigh and the pair settle into the seat.

Sara gazes out on her backyard.

" What?"

" I don't know, I was thinking that maybe we need to go to the police with all this. I mean they kidnapped you, didn't they? Someone should be held accountable." Sara states seriously looking back into the eyes of Xander.

" The police?" Xander says with a quick grimace, because his few experiences with Sunnydale's finest never went particularly well.

" Yeah, they have resources we couldn't possibly use, they could track down Dr. Burstein and arrest him or make him come back."

" They can't make him come back without proof and what proof do we have, I mean other then that photo of the little boy?" Xander questions.

" I'd say that's pretty substantial, they could trace who the boy really is, exhume Charlie's ... I mean the grave and prove that you were never buried." Sara is excited now and she smiles at Xander who is trying to smile back but can't because he couldn't be less excited in the thought of involving the authorities.

" What?" She asks.

" Nothing. Nothing I think it's a great idea but maybe we should wait for the DNA results to come back so they have some more proof? Xander reasoned now thinking of the long interviews he had as one of the prime suspects of the Sunnydale high bombings. A formality but nevertheless unnerving.

" We should go down to the station tomorrow, are you free?" Sara asks and Xander chews his lip in thought as if checking a mental schedule.

" Yup, I'm as free as a bird ... for now." He mutters and Sara smiles at him,

" Great, you want dinner? I was going to make pork chops you used to love them when you were little." Sara says obviously picking up Xander's change in mood and making an effort to change the topic.

Xander nods.

" I'll eat anything." He grins as Sara stands in the near darkness of the new night and Xander smiles at her before she heads back inside.

Xander stretches out on the garden seat and stares up at the sky absently drawing patterns between the stars in his mind. He can feel a tension building up inside of him and not for the first time since he's been in Colorado wishes he could take his anger and frustrationout on a vamp.

Sara was moving quickly and Xander didn't know how to slow her down.

It wasn't just the wanting to take their 'case' to the police; she wanted him to move into the house back into his old bedroom. To help him set up his carpentry business, worst of all she wanted to travel back to Sunnydale with him when he went back to collect his belongings and see the place he'd been brought up.

He couldn't help but feel a little overwhelmed as she talked of plans to include him in her life and as the days moved past she talked as well of the past and what he was like as Charlie. At times he wanted to take her and shake her and yell, ' I'm not Charlie anymore!' and other times he couldn't get enough information, asking question after question about what he liked to do and eat and see and play. How long it had taken him to crawl, walk and talk.

Sara pokes her head out of the screen door.

" I forgot, I pulled out a couple of old photo albums if you want to flick through them." She calls out and Xander swings his legs over the side of the garden seat.

" That'd be great!" He calls out as he joins Sara inside.

"They're on the table." Sara explains as she heads back towards the kitchen.

Xander folds himself under the table top and grabs a thick plastic covered album and flicks it open to the first page. Sara and Jack are smiling as they both half hold a baby, as Xander flicks through the pages the baby gets bigger and becomes a toddler and then on a page alongside pictures of a rambunctious three year old is a picture that causes Xander to freeze.

A collection of men stand dressed in full Air-force uniform obviously posing for a team photo. Somehow Charlie is in the photo as well and Jack has him perched on his shoulders. Of the eight or so men in the photo Xander recognises two. Jack and Anthony Harris.

Anthony Harris was in the Air-force, Xander's eyes opened wide as the next thought followed.

Anthony Harris knew Jack O'Neill. Anthony Harris knew Charlie O'Neill. Anthony Harris stole Charlie O'Neill

end chapter

AN: Did you see it coming? What do you want to happen now? Personally I think it's time Xander kicked someone's butt.

Thanks for those of you that reviewed to make sure I wasn't dead. It was very touching.


	11. Father's Day

Standard Disclaimer Applies

AN: Thanks to Wolf who was as always the best. I use a bad word in this chapter, it starts with F so it offends you I apologise but as an artist I felt that it was needed. Thanks to those that review the last time, I'm pleased you didn't see the last twist coming.

Chapter 11

When the arguing inside the Harris household became too much, Xander would escape to Willow's or camp out in the backyard lying in a sleeping bag staring up at the sky as the sound of hysterics drifted through the air. On these nights Xander would imagine belonging to a different family, a happier family.

Some days his Mom would wake him for school with a hot breakfast made and clean clothes ready. On other days he would wake up late and the only sign of his parents would be a rug covered lump on the couch and he would have to wade through his mess of clothes pulling together the only clean items he could find regardless if they matched or not. Soon this mix-matched fashion became his own original style, initially developed to hide the neglect of a mother consumed by depression too blue to clean.

When he was thirteen Anthony smacked him across the face for the first time. When he was fourteen his parents disappeared for two weeks and he never told anyone that he was living in his house alone, eating as usual at Will's, doing his own laundry. When they returned they never apologised for leaving him alone without a word, never mentioned where they had gone and never did it again.

Anthony Harris and Jessica Harris parents of Alexander Harris, but asXander crossed through the streets of Colorado Springs in his UncleRory's beat up old convertible he knew that even their names were a lie.

Anthony Harris used to be known as Thomas Fisher, an Air-Force Major in a black ops unit with Jack until he was transferred to Washington a year and a half before Charlie was killed.

This was as much information as Xander had been able to carefully pry from Sara without alerting her suspicions. Then after dinner he had wished her a goodnight and casually mentioned he had forgotten about a job he had planned in a neighbouring town. He would be gone for a few days, but he had promised to call to check in the next night.

It was time to get some answers and Xander would look in the one place he should have looked, when all this started, at the beginning.

At the birthplace of Alexander Lavelle Harris.

Arriving in Sunnydale the next morning Xander bypasses his favourite haunts and friends to travel straight to the home he grew up in. Slipping his key into the lock he moves into his old home with a shout of hello and from the living room comes a deep voice.

"Xander that you?" Tony Harris demands.

Xander takes a deep breath as he moves through the house and stops at the threshold to the room where his Dad sits in an armchair watching classic ESPN.

"How you doing Tom?" Xander starts and Tony's head snaps up and he stares at his son in shock.

"What did you just call me?" Tony demands rising from the chair and

Xander steps into the room.

"I called you Tom, that's your name isn't it? Thomas Fisher." Xander says calmly

The color is draining from Tony's face but he still retorts.

"You've gone mad boy. You get knocked on the head?"

"Shot actually, wasn't it?" Xander fires back and Tony steps back.

"Isn't that what happened Tom? I got shot in the head and you brought me to Sunnydale? Set up a new life with a fake wife and a fake name and someone else's kid?"

"I don't know, what you're talking about." Tony stammers lamely and Xander shrugs walking forward.

"You were a Major in the Air-Force and you were in the same unit as Jack O'Neill. But I'm confused, how does a person go from a person's team member to stealing their son?" Xander said it calmer then felt.

"How do you…?" Tony asks lamely.

"It doesn't matter how I know what I know, what matters now is thatyou tell me why?"

"I can't tell you that." Tony says.

"You can and you will." Xander threatens.

"You're trying to intimidate me?" Tony asks with a small smile he walks forward to stand a step away from Xander. "On my worst day I could beat you into the ground, boy." He states flatly emphasizing the word 'boy' and Xander punches him in the face.

The blow came faster then Tony could expect and hit the older man in the chin, snapping his head back and sending him sprawling back into the grubby carpet of the living room.

"Why'd you do it? Why steal me just to spend my whole life being an arsehole?" Xander shouts losing his control and advancing towards Tony.

Tony rubs a hand along his jaw and looks up to where Xander has come to stand over him and twisting his legs manages to kick Xander's legs out from the boy. Xander falls back against the floor with a crash that nearly knocks all the air from his lungs. As soon as Xander hits the floor Tony was on his feet and advancing on him.

"You think you can take me? I was special ops! I was the best of the best!" Tony yells as he lashes out with a boot-covered foot catching Xander in the side. The blow landing just under Xander's ribs has enough force to roll him over. Xander forces himself up with his arms and then seeing the boot come back rolls away from the kick ending up on his back, his hand holding his ribs in agony.

Tony came again lashing out with the boot and Xander lets out a cry of pain as he propels himself heel over head into a backwards roll landing on his knees, he pushes up and charges at Tony. Xander's shoulder drives into Tony's waist and the two end up crashing into the end of the couch in a mess of tangled arms and legs.

Xander is on top of Tony and flinging punches at the older man's face. Tony blocks the punches with his arms as he tries to bring his legs up to grapple Xander off him but he is older and heavier and slower then he used to be and the wasted muscles won't perform the action with success.

"You ruined their lives!" Xander yells as another hit lands Tony under the eye.

"I was saving their lives!" Tony screams back hoarsely and Xander stops for a second in surprise.

"You shot me to save their lives?" He demands and Tony stares up at him, the fight leaving the older man.

"I didn't shoot you ... I saved you." He says pained.

"What?" Xander says shocked. Never would he have suspected Tony Harris of heroic tendencies.

"Are you really that stupid that you think that I would shoot you in the head only to steal you away and raise you as my own?" Tony demands pushing Xander back, and Xander heaves himself up into a standing position his right arm cradling his aching ribs.

Tony uses the side of the couch to pull himself into a pained standing position. He keeps his back to the wall and watches Xander warily as he does so, speaking only when he has finally managed to stand upright.

"It was the only way." He states and Xander shakes his head.

"Tell me what happened?" Xander asks angrily and Tony sighs and collapses into the couch his left eye swollen near shut he touches it gingerly and falls silent.

"Dad, please?" Xander pleads and Tony looks up at him.

"I don't know what happened, not all of it." Tony says exhausted.

"Then tell me the bits that you know."

"All I know is that a friend from the unit called me the day after you were shot and said he needed me to do him a favour. When I met him he had you all bundled up in the back of a truck he told me they were going to kill you and he asked me to hide you. Said that one day he would come and find you."

" Who are they?" Xander asks and Tony shakes his head.

"I don't know. He didn't tell me and I didn't ask. I just took you and looked after you until you woke up."

"And then?"

"And then you woke up and you didn't know who you were, or where you lived, or what your name was." Tony explains,

"So?"

"So it was decided that it would be better if you stayed with me. So you did and he sent me some money and let me know that if they ever found out that you were alive they would kill you, me, Jess, him,

Sara everyone. What was I supposed to do?" Tony challenged.

Xander is looking down at Tony is disbelief.

"You could have gone to ..." Tony cuts him off,

"To who, the cops, the FBI? The order to kill you came from the top, Xander. From the top of the top, it was clear that there was no-one and no organisation we could deal with that would prevent them from taking everyone out!" Tony shouts in aggravation.

"Who was the guy, what was his name?"

"If you go looking for these answers Xander, they will kill you."

Tony tells Xander staring up at the man he raised as his son, sitting there with a look of fear in his eyes Xander has never seen before.

"You think I'm scared of them? I'm not. You think I'm not going to find them? I am." Xander says flatly.

"This is bigger then you Xander, take the fact that you're alive as a bonus and let's just ..." This time it's Xander that cuts Tony off.

"What? Go on pretending to be one big happy family?"

"I did the best I could!" Tony yells suddenly pulling himself off the couch and waving a finger at Xander. "I gave up my whole life for you! My job! My Fiancée! My home! And what did I get in return? I get stuck in this shit hole of a town working a minium wage job, married to a woman I hate and who hates me. Trying to pretend I know what the fuck I'm doing as I try and raise you!"

"Then let it go, tell me who he was and I'll stop them." Xander promises shakily.

"I never asked for this." Tony speaks more softly then the yelling he's just done. "But I stuck it out, I stayed hidden and below the radar to save your life and all I'm asking in return is that you let it be." Tony pleads.

"I can't do that." Xander replies after a beat, a picture popping into his head, of Sara and the look on her face when she realised her son was still alive.

"You can but you won't and I'm not going to help you anymore." Tony maintains

"You owe it to Sara and Jack to help me." Xander fires back and Tony has no immediate reply.

"Just pretend you never found out?" Tony asks of Xander as he moves away towards the liquor cabinet.

"I'm afraid I can't do that. Not now, it's gone too far." Xander explains and Tony looks up and closes his eyes.

"You told them who you are?" He asks his voice trembling.

"I did." Xander says and Tony fiddles with the liquor cabinet door and finally gets it open.

"Jack knows?" He asks as he grabs a bottle of whisky around the neck, unscrews the lid and takes a few good gulps wincing as the firey liquid hits his stomach.

"Yes." Xander half lies, "I met him and Sara last week, Sara knows what happened she went to the morgue and found proof." He explains.

Tony's head drops in defeat, the room falls into silence as he takes another long sip of the Whisky.

"Peter Phillips." He finally mutters beaten, " I don't know where he is now."

"Thanks." Xander starts as Tony turns round but he stops talking as

Tony shakes his head.

"You were always his son. Never mine." He concedes, "Get out." Tony states quietly taking another swig of the Whisky and Xander nods.

It isn't until Xander reaches the curve that Tony takes his gun from the liquor cabinet and with tears in his eyes as he watches the retreating back of the boy he called son, shoots himself in the head.

AN: WE have a purpose and a direction! Like where we're going, picked the surprise, then let me know, it takes very little time but is sooo helpful when it comes to writing the next chapter.


	12. If Only

AN: Big thanks to Demona for her review, I think it helped a lot but if it didn't then please let me know. Whitewolf you're always a big help, so thanks again.

Chapter 12

When Charlie was gone, Sara would still wait for him. Finding herself some days waiting for him to come down for breakfast, waiting for him before closing the car doors, waiting for him at the park, waiting. A wait that should have lasted forever.

These days the wait is different, the wait is at the front room for the postman, the wait is for her ex-husband to call, the wait is for Alex to come back from his business trip. These days the wait holds promise and hope and Sara never wants to go back to those days when the wait always ended in crippling realisation.

The fear of the wait remains the same however, fear that the wait will end without a result that the wait will stretch on in defiantly, fear that the act of waiting should have been over four days ago and that once again her son will never come.

There is no answer on either his cell phone or the landline at his small Colorado Springs apartment. When Sara went around there she saw the mail piling up in front of the door and her repeated knockings only reward was that it irritated a neighbour enough to say that the man she ached for had not been in for a couple of days. A week to be exact, Sara thought. One week, four agonising days late.

Finally the wait leads her to Jack's house a wooden structure on the outskirts of the town, to the man she once thought could solve any problem and now hopes that remains true.

Sara rings the doorbell apprehensively, if Jack can't help her find Alex then she will be left standing by her front window with a knot in her stomach. The bell inside the house chimes shrilly and Sara waits a few seconds before ringing it again, and then again. 'Please be home,' she begs to herself.

The third ring still brings no one to the door and she takes a few steps back and looks at Jack's truck parked under a small birch tree. Then she walks back down the wooden front steps and peers around the side of the house, male laughter drifts to her ears and although she recognises it isn't Jack's deeper chuckle, she follows the sound anyway.

At the rear of this house she has never been to before there is a small pond and at the waters edge are four fold out chairs, filled with four people who are chatting and laughing together in a friendly familiarity Sara suddenly finds herself jealous of.

She stops moving towards them and nearly turns and leaves before a large black man wearing a ridiculous fishing hat turns and regards her with a careful stare.

" You have a visitor O'Neill." he states formally and Jack turns with a smile on his face that is wiped away by the sight of Sara standing nervously, her arms folded around her.

" Sara?" he asks a note of concern in his voice, because he too is aware that this is her first visit to his home.

Sara can't bring herself to say anything in front of the three people she doesn't know although she recognises them vaguely from when Charlie visited her in a hallucination at the Colorado Springs hospital.

" Sara?" Jack repeats as he jams his fishing pole into the ground and leans it against his chair, he stands and moves towards her. Ignoring the curious looks of his team behind him.

" Jack, I need your help?" Sara says her tone slightly pleading and she glances at the people again and Jack nods as he takes her by the arm.

" Come on inside. Are you all right?" as he asks the question Sara wonders if coming here was a mistake, if Jack will only tell her 'I told you so' and refuse to help. The fear of this thought freezes her in place and Jack steps off without her, stops then turns.

" What is it?" he asks and Sara hugs herself tighter,

" Promise me you'll help?"

Jack doesn't answer for a moment, instead he takes a few seconds to look into Sara's eyes and his own intense facial expression softens a little.

" I promise," he agrees and Sara sighs in relief and allows Jack to lead her into the house.

The inside of the house is a reminder that Jack is a military man, the furniture and rooms are spotless. Everything in it's place with no mess to be seen, just like her house had been before the arrival of a messy child, just like her house was now.

" I need you to help me find Alex?" Sara asks right off the bat as soon as the glass door has been slid shut and they have privacy.

" Why? What did he do?" Jack demands angrily and Sara shakes her head,

" He didn't do anything!" she retorts, " He's missing!" she finishes and Jack's eyebrows are raised in suspicion.

" Missing? How long has he been gone for?" he asks remembering his promise to help, despite the subject matter being one that he doesn't care to think about.

" A week, he said he had a job in a nearby town and that he would be gone two days at the most, that was a week ago!" Sara says agitatedly pacing away from Jack.

" What if something happened to him? Nobody would think to call me, he could be injured!" she exclaims not allowing her mind to take itself to one other possibility that Alex could be dead…again, that she might have lost her son again.

" I'm sure he's fine," Jack says calmly walking back over to Sara and wrapping his arms around her, finding it funny that his ex-wife is still one of the few people he is comfortable comforting through touching.

" You don't know him Jack, if he said he'll be two days, then he would have been back a week ago. Something has happened and I need you to find out what," Sara says into Jack's shoulder and although the words come out slightly muffled Jack hears them anyway.

" He probably met a girl, or got drunk. You know what the youth of today are like," he jokes and Sara glares up at him as he uses the flip tone.

" Don't!" Sara snaps and Jack looks at her as Sara pulls herself from his arms. " I'm worried and scared and all you can do is make a joke!"

Sara walks towards the door angrily,

" Why would I expect you to help?" she demands, " You're only his Father," she continues and looks back as Jack snorts,

" Or so says the man who's up and left. Yeah let's take his word for it," Sara turns back to face him,

" No Jack. Take my word for it. Take my word that he's ours, that he has Charlie's eyes and…" she is cut off,

" My son is dead!" Jack barks and they both turn as someone opening the sliding door makes an embarrassed noise.

" Sorry Jack, it's the SGC on the phone," Daniel apologizes holding out a cell phone.

" The stargate calls, " Sara says bitterly and she stalks into the kitchen grabbing a notepad as Jack demands why the caller is disturbing him.

" I have to go, we have to go," Jack explains to Sara standing in the kitchen as he ends the call without a goodbye and Daniel nods and leaves through the same sliding door he just entered.

" His name is on the pad in the kitchen, if you decide you give a damn then maybe you can help me find him. Otherwise I'll do it myself," Sara says as she stalks to the front door and leaves slamming the door behind her with a bang.

The large black man in the funny hat is standing near the porch and he regards her carefully as she storms to her car and still watches her as she pushes the car into reverse and peels out of the driveway. Trying not to look at Jack who has come out of the house to stand on the porch and watch her drive away.

" Is everything all right O'Neill?" Teal'c asks walking slowly towards his friend and jack nods and looks at Sam who has also arrived on the scene.

" How about you two head in, Daniel and I will catch you up," Jack suggests and Sam smiles.

" Right, we'll see you there," she confirms and Jack nods despite the fact that Sam and Teal'c have already turned towards her car.

Turning back towards the house Jack pushes the door open a nudge more and calls through,

" You coming Daniel?" he calls and from inside there is the sound of the toilet flushing and Daniel jogs into the hallway,

" I hope you washed your hands," Jack deadpans as the duo head for the car and Daniel smiles and then asks as he climbs into the vehicle,

" What's going on with Sara?"

" It's nothing, did Walter say how long the ambassador had been waiting?" Jack asks changing the subject as he starts the car.

" Only an hour, I thought you two didn't see each other much?"

" We don't," Jack answered winding down his window as he drove,

" If you don't see her much and she comes all the way to your house to ask for help, it must be pretty important," Jack turns away from the road to glare at him.

" First and last time I'll say it Daniel, leave it alone," Jack warns turning back to finish the drive to the mountain complex in silence.

Jack slumped into his office chair wearily; the Ambassador for PXY 789 had come unannounced to work out a treaty with earth regarding the trade of naquada for medicines and basic technology. It had all seemed easy enough but the process seemed to go on forever and became increasingly more tense when the Ambassador announced that as part of the bargain he wanted several crates of P-90s. Negotiations had gone down hill at that point.

Jack looks up at his closed door and the coat rack that sat next to it, his fishing jacket hangs limply and Jack's eyes come to rest on the pocket in which he stuffed Sara's note into. Looks away and tries to concentrate on the paperwork that facilitated the running of the base, but every few minutes his eyes were dragged up and his gaze settles on the pocket.

Finally he collects the note the same time there is a knock on the door, and since he is already standing he opens it. Daniel looks at him with a sigh,

" You know you have to release him, you can't arrest visiting ambassadors on the grounds they piss you off," Daniel instructs and Jack rolls his eyes, the ambassador was sitting in isolation and Jack had been so preoccupied by the scrap of paper he'd forgotten.

" Let him go, offer him the deal again but no guns," Jack instructs turning back towards his desk,

" You want me to tell him?" Daniel asks a little surprised and Jack nods as he sits down and looks at his computer in suspicion.

" You want me to tell Teal'c to do it?" Jack asks absently as he switches the machine on and looks at Daniel as the computer boots up.

" What?" Jack asks as Daniel stands opposite him looking a little shocked,

" Nothing, it's just I thought you didn't even know how to turn that thing on," Daniel explains with a chuckle,

" I'm a soldier Daniel, Soldier's can work technology," Jack says irritated and Daniel's smile vanishes,

" I know that, that's not what I meant. So the Ambassador, I offer him the deal without the guns?" Daniel blurts,

" Without the guns," Jack confirms putting his head down and going through the security system on the computer, pulling rarely used passwords from deep recesses of his brain.

" Right, I'll do that now," Daniel mutters as he leaves.

Jack looks up as the door clicks shut and opens the browser he needs to perform a background search on someone, then looks down at the scrap of paper and types in _Harris, A_. Sunnydale.

The results leave him sitting in the quiet office in shock. Feeling like he'd been walking along and the ground had suddenly fallen open beneath him, sending his stomach flipping inside of him.

On the screen is a photograph of one Anthony Harris, it's a mug shot from when the man was arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest and while it's not the best photograph Jack recognises the man immediately, as a former friend, a former team mate.

" My god!" Jack gasps scrolling down the page, " It's true,"

AN: Review if you like it, Review if you find a major grammatical error and can't stand it any longer like Demona did. I won't take offence, I'll take lesson and fix it next time. Oh and Where is Xander?


	13. Blood is thicker

AN: Big thanks to WhiteWolf, you help so much.

Chapter 13

When had Xander's life become about blood? Was it when he would hold a bloody nose from dripping on the carpet as a child? Was it with the arrival of Buffy and the revelation of the blood drinking creatures of the night? Was it the look in a vampire's eye as they wounded you in a fight? The smell and sounds the hungry creatures made as they fought towards the soft flesh of the neck?

Or was his introduction to blood an earlier affair? Was it when Charlie had 'died' in the arms of his mother, swaddled in a blood soaked towel? Or was it a much more recent event, hearing the gun shot and finding his 'father' cradling the shattered head of Anthony Harris as his blood drained from him body and pooled underneath the man's dead body, soaking into Xander's pants and shoes and covering his arms in the sickly rich coppery fluid?

It was always there, coursing through his veins and pounding in his ears as he fought demons, the sweet tangy taste in his mouth as he sucked a splinter loose from flesh. Splattered on his clothes from battles, different colours, different textures but always the same, blood.

There is a fine sheen of sweat on Xander's face as he draws the stake back and plunges it into the chest of the fallen vampire with so much force it splinters on the asphalt surface of the alley way as the vampire dusts. The girl he has rescued is standing against the dirty brick wall with the remnants of her dress clutched to her and as Xander looks up, she runs out of the mouth of the alleyway screaming.

Xander doesn't blame her, he knows what he looks like today, having caught a glimpse of himself in the reflection of a window downtown earlier. He hasn't used a razor in a week and the hair on his face has grown into a thick stubble, his hair is dirty and unkempt and the black Singlet he's been wearing for the past couple of days has a slash across the back and reveals the dirt encrusted on his arms from a week of not showering. He looks and smells like one of the cities homeless, the desperate that flock to the warm Western coast because at least they know that they won't freeze to death. Unfortunately though, they bring with them the demons and vermin that prey upon the at risk and disadvantaged.

San Diego and Xander has been here five days, opening a door in his psyche to a Soldier and a Hyena and he's allowed them to stalk the streets, killing and hunting and tracking Peter Phillips.

Peter had hidden himself well and once again if it hadn't been for the magically enhanced hacking skills of Willow he would have remained hidden. Willow who had tapped away at her computer well into the night, as Xander sat on her bedroom floor, blood crusted on his pants, staring at a wall in a daze.

Peter has a new name now and a family, a wife and two small boys and Xander's quest has already taken it's first victim and he is unsure if it will take another.

Xander rubs one hand along his jaw feeling for the first time in a week soft smooth skin, after killing the vampire last night he shaved, showered and dressed neatly. It was time to go and meet Peter and he wanted to make a good impression.

It's school time when Xander finally goes to the house the family lives in and as he knocks on the door the small neighbourhood is quiet.

The door opens and Peter Phillips looks at Xander suspiciously,

" Peter Phillips?"

" Never heard of him," the man states moving to slam the door shut.

" Peter Phillips, Lieutenant Colonel United States Air Force. Ten years ago you kidnapped a little boy. " Xander continues jamming a steel capped boot into the door frame.

" I told you I never heard of any Peter, " the man states again rattled.

" I'm Charlie O'Neill," the pressure forcing the door shut stops, " heard of Peter Phillips now?" Xander asks and Peter stares at Xander for a good moment before he nods and shuffles back allowing the door to swing open.

Xander steps into the house and Peter swings the front door shut and the click of the safety being taken off a gun echoes in the hallway and Xander turns. Peter has the gun aimed at his head. The gun is being held very steady and the man holding it looks pissed.

" Who are you?" Peter demands

" I told you I'm Charlie O'Neill," Xander replies calmly and Peter shakes his head,

" Charlie O'Neill doesn't exist anymore, he's dead," Peter tells Xander,

" I know, you turned him into Alexander Harris. You want to see some I.D?"

Peter waits a second then nods and Xander makes a slow move towards his pants with his right hand not wanting to startle the man.

" I'm just going for my wallet," he tells Peter as he inches his right hand around to the back of his jeans and pulls a battered leather wallet from his pocket and tosses it to Peter.

The wallet doesn't make the distance and Peter has to take his eyes off Xander to catch it and as he does so, Xander steps forward and grabs Peter's gun hand by the wrist with one hand and the top of the gun with the other and twists back on it's sharply forcing the gun from Peter's grip. Now Xander has the gun and Peter has the wallet.

" These things give me the willies, you understand?" Xander explains as he pulls the gun apart, ejecting the clip, emptying the round in the chamber and removing the barrel and slipping the separate components into his jacket pockets.

Peter is staring at him angrily and Xander points to the wallet,

" I'm still Alex, go on check."

Peter flips the wallet open his gaze on Xander and he glances down at the driving license and the flips it shut and throws it at Xander, The wallet hits Xander in the chest and he catches it with his left hand keeping an eye on Peter and returns it to his pocket.

" What the hell do you want?" Peter demands and Xander raises an eyebrow,

" What the hell do you think I want? I want to know who they were and where I can find them." Xander says and Peter shakes his head,

" They'll kill me. They'll kill, "

Xander cuts him off,

" Yeah, Yeah I heard that already and I'm ready to hear who they actually are." Xander says calmly,

" Leave it alone, What can you do anyway?" Peter demands

" What can I do?" Xander paused for effect " I can hunt them down, like I found you, and I can make them hurt, like I'll do to you if you don't tell me who they are." Xander growls staring at Peter with cold piercing brown eyes.

Peter stares at Xander until he is forced to break the boys intense gaze,

" Does Jack know?" He finally asks and Xander nods,

" He does, What you'd rather a visit from 'Dad'?" Xander bluffed,

" Jesus! No!" Peter exclaims a hint of fear in his voice for the first time,

" You tell me what I need to know and Jack will never know your role. How you stole his only son, that secret will stay just between the two of us." Xander bargains,

" Yeah, You, me and Tom." Peter says, " and I guess we all know Tom can't keep a secret."

" Tom's dead, so it's just you and me." Xander says coldly and Peter's head snaps up in surprise,

" What? How?"

" Self inflicted gun shot wound to the head," Xander tells him and Peter stares at him, " no, it wasn't me. I guess Tom couldn't live with what he'd done anymore, so he told me your name and blew his brains out." For a moment Xander can picture the blood, everywhere but he forces the image down.

" I have a family, I have more to lose now, I can't tell you." Peter stresses and then in a panic he moves to the window, " Were you followed?" He demands peeking through the blinds.

" Peter, I need to know!" Xander yells suddenly and Peter turns, " Don't you get it, you stole my life and I need to know why?"

The two men stand in silence facing off across the room,

" You'll go?"

" You'll never hear from me or see me again, and you have my word it'll never get back to you." Xander promises.

There is silence for a moment and finally Peter says,

" They're called the trust. That's all I can tell you, now please. Leave."

" The Trust?" Xander asks not recognising the organisation, " Who are they?" but Peter stood silently by the window, his breath coming in short shallow gasps. The man was obviously scared.

For a moment Xander can see the blood that will spill from Peter if this Trust ever find out what he revealed, and as he thinks he can almost smell the copper he turns and leaves. His hands disappear into his pockets and close around the edges of the gun and he smiles as he thinks.

Look out Trust here I come.

AN: Read and then Review and in this review let me know if you like where I'm taking this and what I'm doing to the characters etc.


	14. Boomerang

AN: Sorry for the big time between updates but I had… what's that condition when you're a writer and you can't seem to think of what it is that you want to be writing? It's like your mind is blocked. Oh well I had scribblers stop and it took me awhile to break through it. Big thanks to WhiteWolf for ensuring this can be read and for fixing my scribblers stop mistakes.

Chapter 14

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It had been at bedtime one night when Charlie had looked up at Jack and announced, " When I grow up I want to be a soldier just like you." two days later he was dead. A death Jack thought was his fault. His fault because he hadn't locked up his weapon, his fault because Charlie would have been playing with the gun imagining himself as a grown up, a soldier just like his Daddy.

On the worst days, Jack felt like grabbing the kids in the lower SG teams by the shoulders and demanding that they quit. Demanding that they work menial jobs or go back to school and be doctors and lawyers and join professions, which meant that he didn't have to watch their body bags being brought back through the gate.

On the worst days, Jack felt like quitting himself and the only thing that stopped him was the fact that he knew he wasn't strong enough to be alone with his memories for the next thirty years.

On the worst days Jack felt like a coward, a failure and a killer.

Jack pulls himself from his truck and moves towards his cabin, he's tired and has been for several days, unable to think because of the thoughts and theories that run constantly through his mind. Who was responsible for taking his son? Where was Alex now? Was he safe? Was he hurt? Would he ever come back?

The hunt for Alex has proven futile and Jack can scarcely believe that a 20 year old young man could drop off the map, that he could not have used a credit card, spoken on a phone, caught a train, ridden on a bus, gotten on a plane, or hired a car, or used any other form of transport that required identification in the past week. That complete lack of information had been terrifying until the news came in from Sunnydale that Anthony Harris had been found dead, killed by an apparent self inflicted gun shot to the head. There had been signs of a struggle on Harris's body and in the home where he had died and his only son Alexander Harris had been on the scene covered in blood when the police had arrived on the scene.

In the report that the Sunnydale PD had collated, Alex had told the police that he and his Father had gotten into an argument over his moving away to Colorado and after Alex had stormed out his Father had apparently taken a gun hidden in the liquor cabinet and ended his life. Upon hearing the gun shot Alex had returned to the house and tried to revive his Father but to no avail.

Jack rubs his eyes wearily and looks up from the path he is walking toward his front door and stops. Xander is sitting on the floor of Jack's porch, his back resting against the wood of the front door and his long legs are stretched out before him crossing at the ankles. For a moment Jack thinks his son might be asleep but Xander lifts his head and as he catches sight of Jack he pulls himself up from the floor looking every bit as tired as Jack feels.

Father and Son stand in the moonlight for a second and Jack pushes forwards toward Xander who shifts his weight nervously from one foot to the next, his eyes focused solely on Jack as the man comes toward him.

" Sara told me where you live." he says suddenly.

" You went to see her?" Jack asks still moving towards the house.

" She told me you had a change of heart?" he asks examining Jack, who has come to a stop on the porch near Xander and Jack leans against the porch railing for a second before replying.

" I know about Tom, found out about Tom." Jack explains and Xander nods in understanding, and Jack goes to say something but doesn't.

" Come on inside." he states instead pushing away from the railing and moving to the front door inserting the key into the lock and shouldering the door to the empty house open.

Jack heads through the house to the kitchen and Xander follows without a word, looking around at Jack's house as he walks, catching sight of a portrait sized picture of himself as a kid perched on the top of a dresser in what looks to be the family room. The house is neat and tidy and has a vaguely empty feel to it, despite it being fully furnished.

" You want a drink?" Jack asks entering the kitchen and heading toward the fridge to retrieve a beer, he turns to see Xander's response, which is a shake of the head and kicks the fridge door shut with the heel of his boot as he turns back around to face his Son.

" I'm sorry about that day at Sara's, I guess I was in a bit of a shock." Jack says awkwardly as he pops the top off his beer using an old bottle opener sighing before he takes a long draw of the cool drink. Watching Xander as he does so.

" Don't worry I won't hold it against you." Xander says with a wry smile and Jack smiles back relieved.

" So where you been kid? Sara's been worried about you." Jack asks jumping up to sit on the kitchen counter and Xander follows suit, both men sitting on the kitchen counter when there are couches a few feet away their legs swing in the air and occasionally bumping against the doors and drawers below them.

" I went home to get some stuff together, got caught up in the whole funeral arrangement thing and I guess it was a little hard to call for awhile. Didn't really know how to explain it all to Sara, you know that I had to stay with my Mom for a bit, make sure she was all right. " Xander offers with a shrug offering a plausible reason for his lack of contact with Sara for the past week and a bit and Jack nods but doesn't offer his condolences.

" I guess you could give a damn that Tom's dead right?" Xander asks and Jack answers frankly.

" I'm not sad he's dead, just sorry I didn't get a few words with him before he died." truth be told Jack wanted to hold Tom down and squeeze the life out of him himself, wanted to pull the truth out of Tom by any means necessary, wanted to abandon him on some god forsaken world for the rest of his life. But he doesn't tell Xander that, probably wisest to keep those kind of thoughts to himself.

" I didn't kill him." Xander announces suddenly and Jack just looks at him in surprise, " I know how it looks, but I didn't kill him." he continues

" I never thought you did." Jack lies

" Really? " Xander asks surprised.

" Really. So did Tom say anything about who took you away?" Jack asks as he settles his beer on the counter top.

" No, " Xander lies " No he didn't say anything. We kind of got into an argument. He thought I should stay in Sunnydale to look after Mom. I told him I knew she wasn't my real Mom and he got really angry and kicked me out of the house. I was nearly back to my car when I heard the gun go off." Xander explains, " He was dead by the time I got inside. I guess he was scared of what would happen if I found out the truth, I don't know." Xander sighs and rubs a hand across his face wearily, he looks up and Jack is staring at him,

" What?" Xander asks.

" Now you are lying." Jack states and Xander just looks at him, his heart inside his chest jumps a little.

" I am?" he asks trying to hold his voice steady and Jack nods.

" I read the police report, I know there was a fight, Tom had a pretty nasty bruise on his face, the couch had been knocked into and the neighbours heard yelling." Jack states.

" So it was a big argument." Xander says with a shrug and he slides off the kitchen counter.

Jack stares at his son for a moment, wondering why he can't see any of his Charlie in the man before him. He could always tell when Charlie told a lie, the corners of his mouth would rise ever so slightly and he always seemed to be relieved when Jack caught him out. Alex's face on the other hand was completely blank, and that in its self told Jack that he was hiding something.

" What did he say?" Jack asks jumping off the counter himself and leaving his beer abandoned on the counter top, condensation sliding down the glass bottle and leaving a watery ring around the glass bottom.

" I told you." Xander starts, " he… " Xander trails off staring at Jack who is looking at him almost pleadingly, and Xander can almost see the need for answers oozing off Jack.

" He told me that it wasn't him behind the whole thing and that he just rescued me to stop them from killing me." Xander finishes and Jack takes an excited step forward.

" Did Tom say who they were?" he asks his voice rising in anticipation and Xander looks at him for a moment, thinking.

Willow and Xander could find no reference to The Trust in the research they did, and when Xander went back to ask Peter some more questions he discovered that the man and his family had packed up and left. Realistically his only motivation for seeing Jack was to get his help, but now he had to ask for it he wasn't sure he could.

Xander stands silently and Jack reaches out and rests a hand on Xander's shoulder in encouragement. It is the first contact that the pair have had, the first physical connection that Jack has had with his son since he lifted him from his truck over a decade ago and ran him inside the hospital.

Jack leaves his hand where it is and gives Xander a reassuring squeeze before removing it.

" I want to be involved, you sware you won't cut me out?" Xander asks his Father.

" Sure you can be involved." Jack confirms and Xander looks at him trying to figure out if he is lying.

" Tony said they are called The Trust." Xander blurts suddenly and the colour drains from Jack's face. " You know who they are?" Xander asks excitedly and Jack shakes his head.

" No. It's not possible."

" Why not? Who are they?"

" It's not them." Jack snaps and he heads back into the kitchen to grab his beer, draining the bottle in a few stressed gulps.

" I don't believe it! You know who they are. Why won't you tell me?" Xander demands

Jack looks at his Son standing before him, a decade after he died. And his brain is screaming to protect him, to not let anything happen to him again.

" Jack?" Xander asks when no answer is forthcoming he yells, " Dammit! I just told you not to cut me out and now you are, you just promised you wouldn't!" Xander snaps and Jack throws the bottle into the sink behind him in frustration, the glass smashing,

" I can't lose you again!" he yells suddenly and both men go quiet.

" It's been my experience that the person you try to protect always ends up in the middle of things anyway. Better I stand by your side where you can keep an eye on me." Xander reasons, Jack places his hands on the kitchen bench and leans forward silently, his back to Xander.

" You're not going to let anything happen to me, and I'm not going to let anything happen to you or to Sara or to Mike. And I'm not just going to stand back and let you go into this by yourself, so whether you like it or not I'm in." Xander stands firm.

Jack sighs turning back to Xander.

" There are things involved here Alex, things that you could never begin to imagine." Xander cuts him off with a grim smile.

" Oh I think you'd be surprised what I can imagine Jack." Xander snorts, " So stop all that 'I have to protect you' bullshit and let's go to work."

Both men stand staring at each other for a moment and then before either of them can say anything, the doorbell rings.

" Bring it on." Xander says to himself with a cold smile, his hand resting on the but of the gun tucked discreetly into his pants, expecting the worst.

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AN: SO did you like it? Hate it? Wondering who's at the door, well take the time to review and I'll take the time to write, or respond to your review. No seriously it does really help with the scribblers stop to know if I'm taking this in the right direction.


	15. Peas in a Pod

Chapter 15,

AN: Thanks to the Wolf for doin' is thang.

It is a funny thing when a child is born, the parents so eager to show off their new bundle of joy but so reluctant to let anyone nurse their child. Jack was happy for admirers to stroke the baby's head and go gooey over how the beautiful the child was, but pass Charlie to his Grandfather or babysitter on occasion and at times he would have to restrain himself from literally snatching the baby back, when that powerful sense of ownership overtook him.

When Charlie became more independent, the feeling was still there but it was more controllable and Jack would even let his son walk unassisted through shopping malls, standing patiently as his son introduced himself to unsuspecting shoppers and store clerks. The drooling toddler running ahead while Jack would turn and smile comfortingly to his wife, a reassurance that Jack knew at all times where Charlie was, and sure enough he was always there at the right moment to prevent excursions down escalators and strange objects being pushed into the mouth.

Finally with Charlie starting school Jack was able to truly relax with his son out of sight, trapped in the crayon colored walls of Colorado Springs Elementary School Jack could see his son off in the morning and greet him in the afternoon, comfortable with the knowledge that his son was safe without him.

Funny how after twenty years those original urges to keep a hold on Alex and not let anyone else cradle him has come roaring back.

Both men are staring at the direction of the front door, Xander's hand is lightly resting on the gun handle at the back of his pants but the gun remains hidden. Jack' hand is hovering near a kitchen drawer.

" You expecting anyone?" Xander whispers and Jack shakes his head as he slides the drawer open and collects a nine millimetre Glock pistol from it.

" Stay here." Jack instructs turning to Xander who rolls his eyes, " I'm serious, don't move."

" Fine…" Xander concedes and Jack starts down the hallway hugging the right wall.

" I will absolutely not stay right here." Xander finishes and heads towards the rear of the house.

It's now dark outside, but through the window on the front door Jack can see that two men in black suits are standing waiting patiently for him to answer and he tucks the gun into the back of his pants before opening the door. If these men expected trouble, they wouldn't have rung the doorbell.

Pulling the door open slightly Jack stands in the open doorway so that the majority of his body is shielded by the door.

" Jack O'Neill?"

" It's General O'Neill actually."

" We're looking for Alexander Harris, we were told we could find him here."

Jack looks between the two men for a moment, both are about six foot, both had light brown hair and pale skin, but as yet only the one closest to the door had spoken.

" Yeah and who are you two?" Jack demands and two I.D badges are flashed at him.

" Special Agent Dime and Ratchet, NSA." Dime states flatly.

" Well Dime and Ratchet of the NSA your intel must suck, cause I don't know an Alexander Harris." Jack replies resisting the urge to turn and make sure that the two men couldn't see any part of Alex in the kitchen.

" You've never seen this man?" The second man asks speaking for the first time and he pulls from his breast pocket an 8 by 10 photo of Xander.

Jack takes the photo off the man and examines it for a moment thoughtfully.

" Nope, never seen him, why you looking for him anyway?" Jack asks not really wanting to, but if he didn't it would be a big indicator that he was lying to these two guys.

" Alexander Harris is wanted for the bombing of a high school in California, he killed twenty two people and is considered a priority threat to National Security. " Dime states as he hands over another photo.

Jack looks down at the second photo of a burnt out building and raises his eyebrows in surprise.

" Shit! And you think that this guy is here?" Dime and Ratchet nod in synch with each other, " Well sorry but I've never seen him." Jack says as he hands the photos back to the Agent closest to him.

" Mind if we come in, take a look around?" Dime asks and Jack nods.

" Sure do, " Jack grips the door firmly unsure if the NSA would simply barge inside the house, and if Xander would hide if they did so.

" You don't let us in now, we're just going to have to go get a warrant and I don't think you want us to do that." Dime's tone of voice changes to something low and threatening.

" Off you go." Jack says back his tone matching Dime's as he shuts the door and for a moment Dime goes to stick his foot in the way so the door won't shut, but he pulls back at the last second and is left growling at the shut door.

Jack watches from the window in the door as the two men turn away from the house and head towards a black town car parked in the dark driveway. He doesn't leave his spot until the headlights of the town car have left his sight.

" Alex?" He calls out as he heads back towards the kitchen and Jack sighs in relief as he sees his Son leaning against the fridge in the same spot he left him.

Jack had talked to the NSA at the front door and Xander had snuck around the side of the house and observed the two men and his spidey sense had gone off immediately. He'd had to head back to the kitchen before he could figure out what was off about the two men and was eager to know who they were.

" Who were they?"

" NSA, looking for you." Jack replies his mind flashing back to the shell of a burnt out high school.

" The NSA?" Xander asks in surprise and Jack nods, " What the hell do the NSA want with me?"

" I dunno, they had some bullshit story about you blowing up a high school." Jack explains and Xander stares at him in shock for a second before being able to say something back.

" Oh." Xander stammered in shock.

" Oh? The NSA accuse you of blowing up a high school and killing twenty people and you say Oh?"

" Um," Xander stammers stuck for what to tell Jack, if the NSA returned they could probably easily frame or even prove that Xander was the one to assemble the giant fertiliser bomb planted in the library that destroyed Sunnydale High.

" Oh my god. You did it." Jack takes a step back and leans against the kitchen counter for support appalled.

" It's not how it seems." Xander says quickly.

" You didn't blow up a school?" Jack asks hopefully.

" It was meant to be a prank! Spray the school with manure, but there was a gas leak and ah well the explosion got out of hand."

" Oh, you killed twenty people, but it was an accident so that's OK." Jack deadpans and Xander shakes his head,

" I didn't say it was OK! I just said it was an accident and it was years ago and it was sorted! Why the hell is the NSA tracking me down now, conveniently at the same time I find you and Sara and how did they even know I'd be here. Alexander Harris has absolutely no connection to Jack O'Neill?" Xander stops himself because he knows he's starting to sound a little panicky, unable to explain what really happened for obvious reasons.

Jack doesn't respond to the hurried statement and he spends a moment looking at the young man in front of him and trying to process the fact that his son killed a lot of people. The fact he claimed it was an accident not changing the horrible feeling in his gut.

" Jack?" Xander asks eventually, as Jack doesn't say anything.

" You make a phone call, use a credit card, check your email or hire a library book since you been here?" Jack asks finally his voice flat and emotionless,

" Yeah, so?" Xander demands, the atmosphere in the kitchen tense.

" The NSA could have tracked you down using any one of those, and that would have lead them to Colorado Springs. "

" What would have lead them to you then?"

Jack shrugs as he rubs wearily at his brow,

" You look up the address of this place at all?"

" No, Sara gave me directions…" Xander trails off and his eyes open wide in worry, " Sara!" he exclaims and Jack's head snaps up as well and both men head for the door.

" My car!" Jack barks as he sees Xander heading towards his beat up truck and changes directions pulls open the car door and throws himself into the front seat of Jack's SUV.

The gun digs into the small of Xander's back and a knot of worry settles in his stomach as Jack slams the key into the ignition and throws the car into reverse.

The drive to Sara's seems to take forever even with Jack driving like a maniac, swerving in and out of traffic and flying through every red light and stop sign they came to. Finally Jack eases on the brakes and the car slides into a quiet stop outside Sara's house.

" Stay here!" Jack orders as he pulls open his door and takes off for the house, but Xander ignores him immediately this time and is right on Jack's heels as they cross the lawn and head towards the house.

From ten feet away they can both see that the front door is open and Jack draws his weapon instinctively. He turns to wave Xander away back to the safety of the car and is shocked to see that his Son has a weapon drawn as well and is holding it out in front of him in the same technique Jack has his drawn.

" You take point." Xander states climbing the porch stairs and taking up position by the front door, hugging the wall gun pointed at the dark interior of the house. His mind is focused and the soldier goes through the layout of the house noting the points where an intruder could be hiding.

Jack is standing on the other side of the door and an inner conflict is raging in his mind between protecting his son and finding out what has happened to Sara, he glances across at Xander once more and leads the way inside.

AN: R&R let me know if you like where I'm heading, if you caught the hint.


	16. History Never Repeats

Standard Disclaimer Applies

AN: Things have been crazy in the real world so I apologize for the gap between updates but it couldn't be helped.

Big Thanks to the Wolf as always.

Chapter 16 – History never repeats

For Xander the experience of finding out that vampires existed had been truly terrifying, but for awhile he had managed to delude himself into thinking that they might be confined to a limited part of the world. California defiantly but beyond that he had assured himself, beyond that they couldn't possibly roam. People would have noticed surely if vampires were spread throughout the world, it was after all very hard to miss the signs. Disturbed graves and missing bodies could conceivably be attributed to grave robbers but bodies drained with blood and seriously someone would notice immortal men impervious to gunfire, at least, wouldn't they?

The discovery of Angel and his worldly travels and colourful history had destroyed that delusion completely and he had been forced to see that Vampires could be anywhere, everywhere. Xander had seen them too, when he had ventured from the city limits of Sunnydale, Xander had seen them everywhere and he had killed as many as he could.

Sliding into his Mother's house, gun drawn and ready to face the unknown the sickly realisation hit him, the men he had seen with Jack, the pale faced NSA turned away by a non-invitation and the strong feeling in his gut, the growl deep in his mind. Vampires had come to Colorado Springs and he'd brought them here and he promised himself, he would be the one to drive them back out.

The interior of the house is dark and Xander can make out the shape of the hallway in the dim light cast by the moon, but much of the house remains in shadows. Jack leads the way ignoring the light switches on the wall and pads silently across the floor. Not turning he points to the living room and with a couple of automatic flashes with his hand he lets Xander know that he wants to be covered, while he checks out the room. Xander making out the gesture in the darkness moves to cover Jack as he enters the room and sweeps it for intruders.

Jack's movements are silent and Xander listens for any indication that someone or something is in the house but there is no sound, but for the sounds of the night outside. Not that that means anything. If there is one thing the un-dead know it's how to be silent. Jack appears again and points towards the rear of the house, and Xander follows him down the hallway and waits again as Jack slips into each room they reach and slips out again.

They clear the kitchen and head past the open backdoor and an ajar screen door towards Mike's study, where a single light has been switched on, the glow of the lamp filtering out into the hallway. Jack moves forward as Xander looks back between the open door and the single light on. Something doesn't feel right and as Jack enters the room Xander watches the screen door, a breeze ruffles his hair slightly but the screen door makes no movement.

Xander heads back towards the kitchen, leaving Jack in the study. He feels his heart beat quicken as he rushes the screen door, planting his left foot and hitting the metal bottom of the screen door with his right boot, the door crashed backwards with a clang and from outside came a grunt of pain.

" Alex!" Jack yells bursting from the study as Xander hits the outside light switch and charges through the door.

A man in a dark suit lay on the ground blood rushing from his nose, but he ignores the injury to try and reach a gun that had been knocked from his hand. Xander gets to the weapon first and toes it out of reach as he holds his own weapon on the man. He looks up at Jack who was also covering the man.

" Who are you?" Xander asks the man lying on the ground his arms raised in surrender.

" You just assaulted a federal agent. I suggest you put the gun away, son." The man answers. Xander nods sarcastically while Jack bristles at the man calling his boy son.

" Sure thing strange man who was breaking into my house." Xander scoffs and he looks up at Jack.

" Are they in there?" Xander asks and Jack looks back inside the house towards the stairs and the second story.

" You all right covering him while I check upstairs?" Jack asks after a moments hesitation and Xander nods once and smiles coldly down at the man in front of him as Jack disappears.

" Oh look, all alone what should we talk about?" Xander asks sarcastically and the man stares back up at him and make a move to get up.

" Move and I'll shoot you." Xander warns and the man laughs for the first time showing Xander the first glimpse of his true nature with a flash of pale yellow eyes.

" You can't hurt me."

" Not even with shiny silver bullets blessed by a priest and carved with a cross?" Xander asks and the man stops moving and keeps his hands where Xander can see them, " Where are Sara and Mike?" Xander demands and the vamp shakes his head.

" You'll have to kill me before I tell you where they are! "

" So you have got them, where did you take them? Who has them?" Xander demands his grip on the gun tightening in anger.

" Where are they?" He yells when the vamp doesn't answer, his finger itching on the trigger.

The vampire stares up at him and then bargains

" I tell you where they are. You'll let me go? "

" Sure thing." Xander lies.

The vampire launches himself off the ground with frightening speed and he is nearly on Xander before he can pull the trigger and the dust settles in the echoing of the gun shot.

" Shit!" Xander yells moving away from the dust cloud in frustration and drawing his weapon at a sound behind him, but he lowers it immediately when he sees Jack who is standing by the back door the colour gone from his face. His own weapon held in shaky hands in front of him.

" What happened?" Jack demands his voice tight, looking around the empty back yard.

Xander looks down at what is left of the vampire and looks back up at Jack.

" He knocked me off guard and took off, " he explains shaking his head, " Dammit!" He yells frustrated with himself his anger in part an act for Jack.

" I heard a gunshot, " Jack gets out, his body relaxing from the horrifying experience of being in the same position he had been all those years ago. Hearing a single gun shot and knowing his son was in danger.

" Yeah, I guess I pulled the trigger as he knocked me back, " Xander offered apologetically with a grim smile.

" Give me the gun." Jack orders stepping forward.

" Excuse me?" Xander asks insulted and Jack holds out his hand.

" Give me the god dammed gun!" Jack shouts and the sudden outburst makes Xander act. He immediately clicks the safety on and hands the weapon over to Jack handle first.

" I'm fine Jack." Xander says softly as Jack struggles to regain his composure, " I'm OK." Xander says reassuringly as Jack stares down at the gun in his hand contemptuously.

" I'm taking you up to the mountain. You can wait there while I find Sara." Jack says his voice unsteady and Xander reaches out and grabs hold of Jack's arm just above the elbow.

" I'm not going to the mountain. I'm OK, nothing happened that I couldn't handle and I'm going where ever you go to find Sara." Xander tells his Father in a calm voice.

" You're going to the mountain." Jack insists his voice tight with anger and fear and his hands are still shaking.

" I'm not, and we can stand here arguing about it or we can go inside and try and figure out where they took Sara." Xander explains trying to get his calm voice to make Jack see reason.

" Dammit Alex, I'm not getting you involved in whatever the hell this is!" Jack shouts pulling his arm away from his son with a jerk and he turns walking back inside the house.

" We had a deal!" Xander calls out angrily after him, watching as Jack plucks the phone off the wall.

" Deals off." Jack says softly as he looks down and punches in the number of the SGC, sighing to release the tension that has built up over the past ten minutes.

" Jack, when are you going to figure out that I can take care of myself?" Xander demands and Jack ignores his son turning his back on the boy and leaning against the wall for support.

" Look, Alex. I can't … I won't lose you again. I can't." Jack states his voice shaking.

" Alex?" He asks turning and looking up when there is no response.

Xander stands in the open doorway staring at Jack his eyes filled with compassion and anger, his body is rigid with tension and Jack can only stare at the gun jammed harshly into his son's temple. Then a deep voice commands.

" Drop the phone, lose the gun or he dies twice."

AN: Read and Review I like it!


	17. Out of the Mouth of Babes

AN:

Sorry for huge times between updates but I had an encounter with a bad virus that rendered me computerless and internetless for a month. Remember God does not have an email account and you should avoid any trouble… stupid roommate!

As for the story there has been confusion with the timeline. This is set before the fall of Sunnydale, there are no extra slayers, and Buffy will probably not make an appearance. Consider her busy saving the world. SG1 timeline is around season 8 but with the inclusion of Col. Mitchell, who I find dreamy!

Here's an extra long chapter for you… On With the Show!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Xander stands in the open doorway staring at Jack his eyes filled with compassion and anger, his body is rigid with tension and Jack can only stare at the gun jammed harshly into his son's temple. Then a deep voice commands.

" Drop the phone, lose the gun or he dies twice."

---------------------------------------------

Jack wishes he could forget the cold agonising feel in his gut the moment the doctor had told him Charlie was dead. Wishes that there could have been days when thinking about that moment hadn't brought back that feeling, that tight, hollow, disgusting feeling in the pit of his stomach that foretold the end of his world. He had not been prepared for the loss of his son, no Father could ever prepare themselves for such an agonizing loss.

He had not been expecting the news that day, and sometimes he wondered how could he have not? But Jack was a soldier and he had seen people survive some horrific injuries, had seen men cling to the smallest scraps of life and refuse to let go. He had thought his son would do the same. Sometimes when he had indulged in a drink too many he had often demanded of his son ' Why didn't you fight?'

The phone slips from Jack's hand and breaks apart as it hits the kitchen floor, small pieces of plastic shattering and scattering to the four corners of the room. A single black fragment continuing to spin long after the others have fallen still is unnoticed by all three men in the room, the inanimate dance of plastic is the least of any of their worries. In the time it did take for the plastic to slowly rotate to a stop however, Jack had snatched his weapon from the kitchen counter and stepping to his right had moved into a better position. To get a clear view of the man holding his son as a hostage.

" Drop the gun." The voice commands again. From Jack's new position he can now see that the speaker is a middle aged white man with a greying crew cut in a plain jet black suit. The man is wearing dark glasses and Jack automatically looks in the man's eyes. To see if he can decipher what the man is thinking but all he can see in the lenses is his own reflection. Weapon drawn and held steady and calmly out in front, pissed as hell.

" I said drop the gun!" The man commands again this time with a shout and a jab of his own weapon into the soft flesh of Xander's temple. Jack's heart pounds against the inside of his chest and his stomach knots in fear and nervous tension but the man can't see this. On the outside Jack still looks super calm. Still looks like someone in control.

" He's all by himself." Xander says speaking for the first time, ignoring the pain of the barrel bruising against the tender skin of his temple. He's trying to undermine the man's confidence and encourage Jack to act, all the time wondering if he could move fast enough himself to avoid catching a 9mm slug with his head.

" You have to the count of three then I shoot the boy." The man states his voice gravely, the product of smoking too many cigarettes. The man jams the gun barrel into Xander's head again to try and steady his hostage because the young man is shaking his head. With each wild movement the Man knows that he is exposed to the expert gunman standing only a few feet from him.

" He's all by himself, he's a lackey, a patsy and he's not going to shoot me Jack! He's going to shoot you if you put the gun down!" Xander warns Jack as he stops moving.

" I know that." Jack says the irritation in his voice not aimed at his son and he pulls the trigger.

There is no time for the man to react to the sound of the shot, but his body does as the bullet slams into his forehead blowing out the back of his head. Showering Xander with a fine mist of blood. The gun falls away from the side of Xander's head as the man, now dead is knocked back and falls to the pavers outside the back door with a thud.

Xander turns and looks at the body as Jack moves quickly out the back door and into the yard. His weapon is still drawn and his eyes sweep the backyard from right to left, an old soldiers trick forcing his brain to concentrate on looking for further possible threats.

Behind him on the ground the man's vacant eyes stare up at nothing, as blood oozes from the mess that once formed the man's skull and pools in a puddle on the patio. Xander can tell from the colour of the blood and the fresh smell of death that the man was human. Confused he looks away from the body and back at Jack who takes one last look around the yard before tucking his weapon into the back of his pants, within easy reach should any further threats invade the scene. He is moving now, quickly towards Xander and Xander watches him arrive with a strange sense of admiration.

" Are you all right?" Jack demands grabbing Xander by the shoulders and staring into his son's eyes and Xander nods.

" Nice shooting Tex. " he states breaking the tension in the yard with an ill placed joke. Not looking back down at the body and he lifts a hand to wipe away the spray of blood that is clinging to the right side of his face.

" I'm just going to wash up." He explains to Jack before moving into the kitchen and practically sticking his entire head under the running faucet to get the blood in his hair to wash away. The feel of someone else's blood on his face, in his mouth and the corner of his eye making him feel sick to his stomach.

Still standing over the body Jack watches as Xander hangs his head in the sink and lets the water run through his hair. Jack can't bring himself to do anything else as Xander scrubs at his face with his bare hands, rubbing his palms harshly against the right side of his face. Jack looks away feeling a strange sense of remorse, not for the man he just killed but at the fact his son had to bear witness to the act. Shaking his head to dislodge the thoughts that invade his mind Jack crouches down and inspects the pockets of the man he just killed.

" No I.D!" Jack has to shout to be heard over the roar of the taps and hearing this Xander turns the tap off. Shaking his head to dry the water from his hair like an oversized pup, sending water flying throughout the kitchen where it hits the kitchen window and showers the floor and Jack who had taken a step closer.

" We don't have to look past the hair cut to tell the guy was military Jack." Xander tells his Father, who is wiping his own face dry now.

" I don't know, we don't have to have a stupid hair cut to be in the Air Force." Jack says with a smile before realising that standing over the body of a man he'd just killed probably wasn't the best place to be cracking jokes with his son.

" What's your excuse then?" Xander fires back with a wink and Jack lifts a hand to his hair and is about to reply when the shrill screaming of sirens enter the air.

" Is that the police?" Xander asks surprised and Jack looks at him without saying anything

" What?" Xander asks, " They're just quick that's all. I was just commenting on how fast they are." He babbles as Jack watches him with a slight trace of amusement.

" What do we do?" Xander asks looking down at the dead man then back up at Jack.

" Let me do the talking." Jack states and Xander stares at him in shock.

" We're staying?" He demands and Jack nods.

" Of course we're staying, I killed a man and I'm sticking around to explain that." Jack explains casually removing the gun from his waist band and tossing it on the kitchen counter where it comes to rest next to his own weapon left on the counter when neither of their lives has been in danger.

" And how exactly to you intend to explain a dead man in your ex-wife's house? That you killed? And how are you going to explain why we are here in the first place? Or who I am? Or why the NSA is looking for me?" Xander demands calmly and Jack looks across at his son.

" I fully intend to lie about the answers to a lot of those questions." Jack states heading back toward the front of the house.

" He's gone mad!" Xander mutters to himself, eyeing the open back door for a second before allowing his gaze to linger on the gun on the counter. Xander snatches it up before he can think of a reason not to and following Jack up the hallway with a shake of the head and a sigh mutters. " And what's my excuse?"

The sirens come to a stop outside in the street and Jack and Xander can see the police cruisers pull to a stop as Jack steps out onto the porch and Xander follows him.

The policemen hurry forward drawing their weapons and holding them ready. They remind Xander of an episode of Law and Order or Cops. They come towards the pair standing on the porch and though it appears that neither Xander nor Jack is armed, the guns of the officers are still held at the ready. Better safe then sorry, being the real motto of the police.

" We had a report of several gunshots coming from the house Sir, is everything all right?" A middle aged patrol officer asks, dark glasses stick awkwardly out of his shirt pocket and two stripes on the uniform over his shoulders indicate he is a Sargent.

" Yes Officer. It is now. My Nephew and I disturbed a burglar, he drew a weapon and I was forced to shoot him to defend myself." Jack explains calmly and the police officer nods his weapon aimed at Jack now.

" You still in possession of the weapon sir?" There is a name patch over the officer's shirt pocket that reveals his name is Winters.

" No sir, I left it in the kitchen with the man's body."

" Ok Sir, we'll check that out." Sargent Winters turns to two officers behind him and motions to the rear of the house and they brake away and head around the side pathway.

" Is this your house?" Winters asks as he comes up the stairs holstering his weapon while a female officer who accompanies him keeps hers drawn.

Jack shakes his head.

" No, it's my ex-wife's house. She's on holidays with her Father and she asked me to collect her mail while she was gone." Jack lies easily and the policeman nods looking both Jack and Xander up and down carefully.

" If you could turn around and stand with your legs apart and place your hands on the side of the house there sir." He instructs politely and Jack turns to assume the position against the side of the house.

Winters checks first that he is being covered by the other officer, then with professional hands he runs his hands over the pockets and waistbands over Jack's clothes. Then uses the back of his hands to quickly check for a weapon concealed somehow on the inside of the legs. Winters finishes with Jack and Xander holds his arms out ready for his search, his heart pounding in his chest at the thought of the revolver stuffed down the front of his pants. A call comes over the radio and Winters sweeps his eyes up and down Xander for a moment before moving away to answer the radio call.

" I'm going to get you to wait here a moment sir." The officer instructs Jack indicating with his head that the pair will wait with the female police officer who tucks her weapon away and moves to the opposite side of the porch. Giving herself space to move, now alone with two potential suspects. The officer is five four or so, young with blonde hair and an athletic build and Xander smiles at her.

" You like being a cop?" He asks and she shrugs.

" It's ok, I guess. What about yourselves? What do you do?"

" I'm a carpenter, Jack's in the Air Force." Xander replies politely still smiling and the pretty cop raises an eyebrow.

" You work up at the mountain?" She asks Jack who nods.

" You could say that, I'm General O'Neill, It's my base." Jack explains and the pair can see the officer struggling internally as to how to process that bit of information.

" Excuse me. " She finally says and wanders away from the duo, grabbing her shoulder radio as she walks and hissing something into it.

It's not long before Winters re-appears and takes the steps up to the front porch two at a time.

" You got some I.D?" He asks brusquely and both Jack and Xander fetch out their respective wallets. Winters doesn't bother to check Xander's he just glances hurriedly at the name on Jack's.

" You could have mentioned that from the start, General." Winters continues,

" There any reason the perp was trying to break into your ex-wives house wearing a suit?"

Xander glances at Jack and tries to resist the urge to vault the porch railing and run away down the street.

" I dunno, probably thought that if someone saw him breaking in they would just think he was a guy coming home from work who'd lost his keys. " Jack explains craning his neck slightly to look at something that interested him in the street.

Winters turned to look at what Jack suddenly has become interested in, four hummers were cruising down the street. The porch fell into silence for a moment as Winters watches the Hummers cruising towards him.

" Sounds good to me General. You'd let me know if I needed to jump to another conclusion?" Winters asks and Jack nods.

" Of course." Jack assures him and Xander shook his head slightly, no wonder the military invaded Sunnydale so quickly. The doors to every hummer sprung open and 16 soldiers unfold themselves from the cars with practiced ease.

The first hummer contained a blonde lady with short cropped hair. A brunette man wearing a bandanna and glasses and a man nearly three times the size of the average human. A second brunette man accompanied them and although he shared a resemblance to the first brunette they were not related. The four members of General O'Neill's top tactical team, Sam, Daniel, Teal'c and Mitchell.

All four were wearing a tactical assault uniform, Camouflage BDU's with tight black t-shirts and a bulletproof vest. The uniform complete with Kevlar helmet with goggles attached. They all held P90s at the ready and Xander could make out extra clips, side arms and even daggers strapped to their thighs. These were people dressed for war.

" General!" The blonde lady calls out as her team approaches Jack. The other three teams hovered around the hummers, appearing relaxed but more then obviously ready for anything.

" Please excuse me." Jack explains to Winters and trots across the lawn to meet with the team, leaving Xander behind on the porch.

Winters sent the group on the lawn a dirty look before walking through the house to deal with the dead body. Xander sighed not exactly knowing what to do. Did he stand here and wait to be summoned over by Jack? Was he even going to be summoned over? What was Jack planning on telling the military about him?

Most importantly though, there was a knot forming in his stomach. Where was Sara? Who had her and how was Jack planning on getting her back? Driven by these un-answered questions Xander sucked it up in terms of his fear of the military and stalked across the lawn towards Jack.

He was maybe half way there when he realised two things. That the huge man Jack was now talking to wasn't human and that Jack obviously trusted him. Xander stops dead. Two vampires had come to Jack's house, and he'd killed a vampire guarding the recently forcibly vacated house of Sara. It was night, conceivably the man could be a vampire but that wouldn't account for the massive size of him, the most notably unnatural thing about him, he must be… Oh Shit! A demon!

The revolver presses into the skin of his stomach and Xander's hand inches towards it. After all they'd been through today, Xander sure as hell wasn't going to let a demon get Jack. Xander looked at the firepower the soldiers had, took a deep breath and reached for the gun.

TBC

AN: You like? You don't like? Well tell me now! Found a mistake? Then point that out as well.


	18. A watched pot never boils

Standard Disclaimer Applies – Big thanks to Wolf.

There had been no chance to fight when Charlie had been killed 'instantly'. No desire to fight when her marriage ended in a sense of inevitability. No fight at the end of the few romantic relationships she had formed, since splitting from Jack. Sometimes she thought that there was simply no fight left in her, that losing her son and then her husband had stolen it all away. Then there were days like today when the fight came back to her and raged in her belly, waiting for a chance to explode.

The room where they are holding her is disturbingly pleasant. The walls and floors are solid concrete and the door seems to be several inches of thick steel but that hasn't stopped someone from attempting to make her comfortable.

There is a neat single bed, with a woollen blanket and a plump new pillow. On the floor is an off cut of carpet acting as a rug, which stops the cold concrete from chilling her bare feet and a side table complete with lamp and latest bestselling paperback book. Now Sara just had to work out, where they lulling her into a false sense of security or did they really mean to simply keep her comfortable for a while.

The man, who enters her room, is a little over six feet tall, he is built like a swimmer with powerful shoulders and the charcoal suit he is wearing would have cost several thousand dollars. There is a clear earpiece sitting in his ear canal and as he opens his arms wide in a welcoming gesture Sara glimpses the calfskin leather of his weapon holster and his black pistol sitting on his hip.

" Sara, so sorry about all this." He states with a cheeriness, that puts Sara immediately on edge.

" Where is my Father?" Sara asks standing and the man motions with his head.

" He's fine, just a little way down the hall." He answers with a smile and walks past Sara and takes a seat on the edge of the bed. He pats the mattress beside him as a gesture, that Sara should sit as well, but she can't bring herself to sit next to the man.

"Why am I here?" Sara asks folding her arms across her body protectively.

" I'm looking for your son, Sara, and I think you and I know that if you're here, I won't have to go looking for him. He'll come to me."

" My son is dead." Sara says her voice shaking and the man smiles, reaching into his inside jacket pocket he withdraws a single folded sheet of paper.

" The DNA test that you had done proves, that Alex is your son," and Sara cannot stop the gasp, her emotions churning inside her stomach and tears spring to her eyes. Happiness at the thought her son had been returned to her. Overwhelming fear of what would happen now that 'they' knew too.

" I don't know where he is." She states as the tears spill over her eyelids and wind themselves down her cheeks.

" That's ok. You don't need to know where he is, Sara." The man says comfortingly, soothingly, " He'll find you, you and I both know he won't stop looking until he does. We'll wait." He tells her gently and Sara begins to sob as the man stands.

" Don't worry, as long as he comes, we won't hurt you."

" Why are you doing this?" She demands as the man strolls towards the door.

" Your son is very important to us, Sara. We'll be sure to take good care of him, this time around." He explains softly and leaves the room, leaving Sara sobbing on the bed.

-------

Slowly consciousness pulls him up, sounds break through his barrier of sleep; the hum of air-conditioning, personnel calls over a loud speaker. With one crack of an eyelid an ache appears and Xander can't pin down the source. It isn't a specific site on his body that hurts, but his whole body. He holds in a pained moan, manages to turn it into a groan instead and opens his eyes.

Bright lights above him cause him to squint up at a fluorescent bulb encased in a steel cage and as a chair creaks beside him he turns his head slightly to see Jack seated beside him. The most recent events in his memory play through his head and he groans again. He'd tried to shoot the demon standing next to his Father, only to be taken down with a… with a what? Something similar to the weapons issued to the initiative soldiers in Sunnydale.

Turning his head Xander can see that Jack is watching him closely now and he ignores the concern on his Father's face to have a look at the room, he had been asleep in. Four concrete walls, concrete floor, concrete ceiling, plain pine dresser, single desk, two arm chairs and a double bed. Unable to determine where he is Xander looks back at Jack.

" You're at the mountain. How are you feeling?" Jack asks, seemingly reading Xander's mind and in response Xander raises a hand slowly and rubs his forehead closing his eyes in a grimace.

" Like I got hit by a truck." He answers truthfully and starts the painful process of sitting up. It takes a while but he achieves in the end an awkward position propped up against the bed head.

" You want to tell me why you decided to try and shoot one of my men?" Jack asks bluntly and Xander shakes his head.

" Seemed like a good idea at the time." He states wriggling a bit more to get comfortable.

" This isn't a joke, Alex." Jack's tone is flat, serious and tinged with disappointment.

" Yes I'm painfully aware of that." Xander shoots back rubbing his forehead again, where a headache has set up shop and is shooting tendrils of pain deep into his skull.

" What did I get hit with anyway?"

" Alex!" Jack shouts exasperated standing and moving away from the bed. " You tried to kill a man!"

" I tried to kill a man?" Xander mutters shaking his head, not a man, a demon.

" What you don't remember?" Jack demands and Xander stares up at him, wondering how to get out of the pickle he has put himself in.

" I remember reaching for the gun but that's about it." Xander explains and Jack stares at him.

" You kept a gun on you, even though you knew, you were about to be searched by the cops?" He asks and Xander nods.

" Front of the pants, push it a little deeper and it ain't ever going to get felt." Xander replies with an answer straight from the soldier in his brain.

" Have you gone mad?" Jack asks angrily his voice rising, standing and moving away from the bed he is silent for a moment. " You remember setting the bomb in the high school?" He asks and Xander turns his head away.

" I explained about that."

" Yeah you did. It was a prank gone wrong. " Jack sighs in disbelief and he drags a hand through his hair.

The duo fall into an awkward silence, Xander turning to sit on the side of the bed facing the wall and Jack watching the door.

" You're going to stay here for awhile, while I go look for Sara." Jack says, like he'd just decided the next course of action and Xander stands shaking his head.

" I'm not just going to sit around and do nothing."

" I'm not giving you a choice Alex."

Jack moves over to the door and raps twice against the solid surface.

" Jack!" Xander shouts angrily as the door opens,

" Jack!" He repeats as Jack walks through the door and it slams behind him.

" Son of a bitch!" Xander swares pushing down the urge to lash out at the wall, or chair. He's seen the camera positioned in the corner of the room, knows he is being watched.

Sliding down the wall Xander pulls his legs up to his chest and starts the wait, he knows is coming.

Closing his eyes he concentrates for a moment, before a voice deep in his mind calls out.

" Willow, I could use a little help here."

TBC.


	19. Follow the rabbit down the hole

STANDARD DISCLAIMER APPLYS.

AN: Thanks to the Wolf and those who review. You rock.

Jack remembered a time, where if he didn't want to tell someone what the hell was going on, he just plain didn't tell them. Remembered that a timed scowl and a few tight words were enough to dissuade someone from meddling in affairs better left alone. Remembered distantly a time in his life where he'd never had to hide the truth.

They were waiting for him in the briefing room as he came back from having a Father, Son chat. He felt like shit. Sara was missing, which terrified him. And Alex, what the hell was he supposed to think about Alex? He'd pulled a gun on a member of Jack's team and had no explanation as to why he'd done it. He'd stood perfectly calm while a man shoved a gun into the side of his head and had wanted to run from the cops. He was wanted for bombing a high school. For killing his classmates yet he'd shown little remorse.

Danny looks up as Jack walks into the room, and Teal'c turns away from the window, where he has been observing the gate room.

" How's the prisoner?" Mitchell asks looking up from a file he has been reading. An old case file.

" Fine. " Jack replies tersely.

" What's going on Jack?" Daniel asks softly and Jack pulls a chair away from the table and sinks into it. He doesn't answer the question he knows Daniel is looking for.

" Sara's missing." He says instead, knowing that the distraction will keep the conversation away from his Son for now.

" Missing?" Sam asks searching as always for more detail.

" Missing, as in her whereabouts are unknown." Jack snaps and Sam raises an eyebrow at the uncharacteristic outburst.

" What can you tell us?" Mitchell asks breaking an awkward moment between Jack and Sam.

" I went around to Sara's tonight. When I got there the front door was open so I went in, there was no sign of Sara, the dead guy surprised me at the back door, that's when he got dead. "

" Did you observe any signs of a disturbance?"

Jack shakes his head at Teal'c.

" No signs that anything was up, and if it weren't for the fact someone tried to blow a hole in my head. I would probably have thought nothing of it."

" Ok, so who would take Sara?" Daniel spoke up, thinking out loud, puzzled.

" I think it might be the NSA." Four heads turn to Jack obviously surprised.

" Why would the NSA, kidnap your ex-wife?" Sam bluntly asks and Jack pushes his chair away from the table and stands.

" That's classified." He states and ignores the shocked looks he receives from his team.

Nothing. He usually keeps nothing from his team. No topic is too top secret, no topic has a security clearance too high. These people are trusted with the biggest secret in the world and therefore, conceivably could be trusted with any secret told to them.

" Who's the kid?" Mitchell asks but Jack doesn't answer, because he can't say the lie.

" You know, the one that tried to put a bullet through Teal'c?" Mitchell prompts but again there is no reply from his commanding officer.

Silence falls on the briefing room, then the only sound is the noise Daniel's chair makes as it is pushed away from the desk.

" He was with you at the house, looking for Sara?" Daniel asks Jack who turns and nods.

" Any chance he could be involved in her disappearance?" Mitchell wonders.

" No." Jack states emphatically.

" You know for sure?" Sam wonders and Jack looks around the room.

" He's not involved. And he's not to be involved." Jack explains in a strong tone.

" Even if he is?" Daniel ponders and Jack shakes his head.

" Just leave him out of it." Jack says tiredly. Why wouldn't the world just leave his son the hell alone?

The Silence falls again before it is broken by Sam.

" I'll set up a tap on Sara's phone and see if there's any unusual chatter on a radio frequency in the area. You should call General Hammond, see if he has a contact at the NSA that we can trust."

" Teal'c and I will go back to Sara's, see if any of her neighbours saw what went down. See if we can find something in the house that the cops missed." Mitchell offers and Teal'c nods to confirm the plan.

" Perhaps we should check any traffic surveillance camera's in the area. Maybe we will be able to obtain a picture of whoever took Sara." He amends and Mitchell looks surprised at the suggestion from the alien, but nods in agreement.

Danny looks around the table and then up at Jack,

" I have no idea what I can do to help, but when you tell me what I can do, then I'll do that."

Jack smiles and sighs,

" Thankyou." He says sincerely as an alarm starts to sound.

Water drips on Xander's head as he lies on the bed and he shifts slightly to get away from the trickle. Moving a foot to his left and away from the dripping sprinkler system he is only settled for a moment, when the sprinkler goes off.

" Hey!" He yells jumping on the bed and trying to cover the sprinkler nozzle with his hand as the door swings open and two guards look into the room.

" There's a fire!" Xander yells and the taller of the two guards shakes his head laughing.

" No, there's a fault in the sprinkler. "

He blocks the door leaving Xander standing in the "rain" as he makes the request to transfer a prisoner on his radio. The term prisoner doesn't escape Xander.

" Copy that." The guard finishes and he looks at Xander.

" Move." He orders stepping away from the door frame to allow Xander space to move through after him.

Xander blinks water out of his eyes and splutters slightly as he grins.

" Thanks, as much as I was looking forward to a shower…" He trails off as he jumps down from the bed and trots towards the door.

The two guards watch him coming, water dripping from his hair, clothes sodden and see no threat. Until he is a foot away and still not slowing. Then there is a vicious right hook, a kick that come up from nowhere catching one guard under the chin and an elbow to the side of the head. Then there is blackness.

The other guard turns to spin away, his hand reaching for his weapon but Xander counters, sweeping the guards legs out from under him and pouncing on him as he crashes to the ground. Driving his heel hard into the guard's nose.

Grabbing the guards pass card, he leaves them lying where they fell and walks up the hallway. There is an access shaft before the elevator and popping the door open is easy. Xander climbs the fire ladder in confusion, the metal rungs continue higher and higher until his arms and legs are burning. Finally he pops the hatch at the top and looks around in amazement at the fact that he has emerged outside at ground level. He'd never considered that he'd been so far under the ground.

" Bloody underground military installations." He mutters to himself as he takes his bearings and turns and runs.

" What the hell do you mean gone!" Jack yells at the airman before him.

" There was a malfunction with the sprinklers in his room, the leaking water knocked out the video surveillance and when we moved him to another room. He knocked out the guards and took off. Video's still down so we don't know where he went."

" Let me get this straight. There is a civilian roaming around the most top secret military base in the world!" Mitchell shouts and the guard looks down.

" He's not on the base." Jack sighs, moving towards the elevator and the team moves after him.

" We can't take that chance General. We should lock the base down, search every level. Cancel any off world activity, until we locate him."

" There's no need, he's not here." Jack confirms and Sam shakes her head.

" How can you know that?" She demands " He could be trying to access the stargate, we've certainly seen that before."

Jack shakes his head as he steps into the elevator and looks around at his team.

" He's not going to try and access the Stargate. He doesn't know the Stargate exists."

" Can you be sure of that Sir?"

He tried to hide the truth for as long as he could, but now his team needed to know what was going on. His Son was out there somewhere, his wife and if his team didn't understand then his family could get hurt.

"He's gone to find Sara." Jack explains.

" Why would he do that?" Daniel ponders.

" Because she's his mom." Jack explains and then sighs. " You see the thing about Alex, is that he's my Son too."

TBC


	20. The one that I want

Standard Disclaimer – Thanks Wolf- Thanks reviewers.

20

There was a reason why he was taken. He knew there was a reason, and a long time ago it had been whispered into his ear. A voice he'd started to hear again lately. A quiet soothing voice, laced with a dark edge that had told him.

" You're too special Charlie, that's why. You're just too special." And then he wasn't special anymore, he didn't have any outstanding talents, he wasn't a standout. At anything.

Sports, learning, girls he was the definition of the word mediocracy. He lived in that anonymous level of skill where he was never bad enough to be taunted. Never good enough to be picked out for praise.

" You're too special Charlie, that's why. You're just too special." Special enough to kill for? Special enough to risk everything for? How far would they go to get him back? How much would they sacrifice?

The forest around him is swallowed up by his loping run, not slowing his pace even though he had put several miles of rough terrain between him and the mountain. Honestly, he has no idea where to even start finding Sara and Mike. No idea where the NSA had taken them. So while he runs he's thinking. Allowing the analytical mind of the soldier to ponder the situation and come up with a plan of attack.

The running becomes riskier at the edge of town. There is nothing more unusual than a grown man sprinting through the streets in the dead of night. So as he runs now, he checks left then right, for any sign of headlights. For witnesses, and if he sees any he will walk. but for now, the night is calm and quiet, and his feet barely make a sound as they relentlessly patter the ground.

Finally Xander is back at his apartment and after a quick search around the perimeter of the building for Jack, he hauls himself up the stairs and through the front door.

There is a man in a black suit sitting on Xander's couch. The gun he's holding levels at Xander's head and despite the situation Xander breathes a sigh of relief.

" Boy, am I glad to see you." He tells his intruder, who tries not to look too confused by the statement.

" Hands up nice and high, in the air, where I can see them." The man orders and Xander talks as he raises his arms slowly skyward.

" You know, why I'm glad you're here? I'll tell you. Firstly by being here, sitting on my couch. It saves me the rest of the night, looking for one of you guys."

A pair of handcuffs lands at Xander's feet.

" Cuff yourself." The man instructs and Xander leans down to collect the cuffs.

" Secondly. You let yourself into my apartment, which is interesting. Do you know about the others?" Xander asks innocently, holding the cuffs in his hands, thoughtfully twirling them.

" Put the cuffs on." The man instructs and Xander makes a face like he's thinking about it.

" Finally. If you, or the people you work for, wanted me dead. I would already be dead. So you don't want me dead, which means. Go ahead and cuff yourself, cause I'm not putting those on." Xander says calmly flinging the handcuffs back towards the man, where they land at his feet.

" There's a big difference between dead and horribly wounded kid." The man tells Xander, who smiles.

" Yeah, and what's the difference between Agent and Civilian?" There was silence in the apartment until Xander smiled.

" Calm down Tex. I never said you couldn't take me in. I'm just not wearing the cuffs. They itch."

" Fine." The man concedes finally, squatting to collect the handcuffs. His eyes and gun remaining on Xander. " Let's go." He orders walking towards Xander, cuffs dangling from his fingers.

Xander doesn't move as the man nears, he stays standing still, arms held in the air. Keen not to get shot. The man is next to him, when he clubs Xander across the cheek with his gun, knocking him to the floor.

" You're a smart ass." The man growls as Xander fights a wave of dizziness, pushing against the carpet to get into a sitting position.

A sharp kick to Xander's stomach, sends him curling up into a ball clutching at his ribs in pain and the man crouches beside him and slaps the cuff on Xander's wrist.

" What have you got to say about that?" The man sneers pulling Xander's wrist behind him.

" Just this." Xander coughs painfully before using the same arm the man is pulling behind Xander's back to slam Tex in the nose. Moving quickly into a sitting position he flips up onto his feet throwing the agent off balance with a jolt. The Agent brings his weapon up, trying to lock onto a target and fire, but Xander uses the free end of the handcuff like a whip and it crashes against the Agent's fingers and the gun. Forcing him to drop it. A quick kick and Xander sends the gun skittering away on the floor of his apartment and out of the equation. Another kick, this time into the side of the Agent's head and the fight is over.

Xander paws through the pockets of the unconscious Agent until he finds the key to the handcuffs and he unlocks himself before slamming one bracelet around the Agent's right arm. He then pulls the Agent's arm down and cuffs it to his left leg.

A further invasion of the Agent's pockets, reveals a spare clip for the gun, an NSA identification card and a set of car keys. A trip to the kitchen to fetch a steak knife and a glass of water and Xander is ready for a quick chat.

The Agent wakes with a jerk as the water hits his face, the jerk is useless and probably painful with an arm and leg tied together. Xander drags a chair across the floor and takes a seat.

" You and me, we're going to have a dialogue." Xander tells the man as he takes seat.

" I'm not telling you a damn thing." The man says glaring at Xander angrily.

" You've already told me a fair bit. What does it matter if you fill in a couple of details?" Xander asks and the man shakes his head.

" I haven't told you shit."

" Sure you have. You sitting here by yourself tonight means that your crew in town must be fairly small. You're missing two Agents already, two to guard the prisoners. One sitting on Sara's house, one at Jack's. What did you start with? 7? And the boss man. 8?" Xander checks and the man stares at him and a momentary flash of confusion can be seen before it's replaced by anger. Xander smiles at the Agent, making him think he has again given up information.

" That little number tells me that this sure as shit ain't about a high school bombing. Who sends a team of 8 to pick up a terror suspect? In which case I'm thinking you guys have wandered off the reservation. No backup, no reinforcements coming and in a minute your little team is down to five."

The man coughs, shaking his head. He kept shaking it and Xander smiled when he could see the man would take his bait.

" So where were you supposed to take me tonight?"

" Screw you!" The Agent spat and Xander stood up, kicking away the chair.

Before the Agent knew what was happening Xander was upon him and plunging the steak knife into the flesh under his right arm. The Agent screams.

" I twist this knife and you'll lose the use of your hand. That's if I have my anatomy right and there's a nerve cluster around here somewhere. Or I could be wrong. I twist this knife, hit your artery and then you bleed for about a couple of minutes and die."

The agent glared at him, wincing and gritting his teeth in pain.

" I'll count to one." Xander announced before the Agent shouted.

" The old mill!"

Xander leaves the knife sticking in the wound he has created and stands. kicking the Agent in the head again to knock him out before dragging him into a closet and after retrieving the weapon, sat down on the couch. The gun in his hand. The soldier going through a plan.

The Agent had been surprised when Xander had mentioned the missing Agents. Because he didn't know they were missing, or they weren't missed. Someone could be using Vampires as muscle and keeping it quiet. The second thing Xander knew was that the Agent had set him up. If you lose three men in one night, you call in backup. And honestly, Xander was a little worried about what type of backup they would be.

Looking down at the gun in his hand he collected the clip and sighs,

" I'm going to need a bigger gun."

TBC


	21. The Best is Yet To Come

Standard Disclaimer Applies

As always big thanks to Wolf.

Chapter 21

For as long as there had been a fight there had always been backup. Always someone standing with him, there in the dark to watch his back. To yell a warning for surprise attacks, to pull the nasties off his neck. To chant a spell or incantation. To provide, always needed, comic relief from the tense situations. He could count on one hand the number of times that he'd faced evil himself, alone all by himself. But the fights where he had support outnumbered them maybe a hundred to one. The fights where he'd stood side by side with a Slayer. With a Witch. With a vampire. With friends.

That feeling of company as you face the unknown was what he perhaps now missed the most. The ability to bounce plans and ideas off another person, a more rational person. The I can do attitude of the Scooby's, their inability to give-up their refusal to let the evil win. How he wished he could have that support now.

But he was alone, well and truly and by choice. If he picked up the phone and called in Slayer support he was opening his best friend up to the possibility of discovery by the NSA, by the Air force. No. He wouldn't be the person responsible for Buffy getting turned into the governments most lethal human weapon. Wouldn't risk harm to the world's most valuable asset. Wouldn't and couldn't risk any of his family, not even Faith. Then again he wasn't really alone. Not really. Cause if he allowed them to, there was a soldier and a hyena ready to come out and play too.

The explosion rocks the building suddenly and completely without warning. Two SUV's shoot sky high as their gas tanks disintegrate into fiery deadly balls of orange heat. Men in an odd mixture of black BDU's and civilian clothing burst from the old mill carrying a dizzying array of weapons. Orders are barked down radios and the men form a very organised sweep of the old compound. Weapons held up and ready. The men sprang into action, the adrenalin running on high.

" The perimeter is secure Sir." The Man hears down his earpiece and he knocks a coffee mug off the control table in disgust.

" They're here. Find them!" He barks down the microphone before him. His eyes scan the video monitors in front of him slowly and methodically.

" It's been my experience that parked cars rarely just explode." He mutters to the other two men standing besides him in the fortified room.

" You think this is the boy?" One asks the other and The Man turns to face him.

" I think this is the Father. The boy has no military background. No training. Nothing at all to suggest that he'd be any more of a threat then an angry golden retriever."

" I need not remind you the importance of keeping our little secret here secure." The second states quietly and The Man glares at him.

" You can be assured. This is not a problem." he replies calmly and the other two men in the room nod at each other before disappearing in a bright flash of light.

" Find him!" The man roars down the microphone, disregarding the calm demeanour he had adopted a moment before, and allowing a tincture of panic to creep into his tone. If the situation wasn't remedied than it would certainly start to become a problem.

The men in the compound sweep the surrounding area thoroughly. The compound now illuminated by strong floodlights. Some patrol by strolling through the night sniffing occasionally at the breeze that turned and blew the black smoke skyward. Others used sophisticated night vision technology to inspect the area beyond the fence surrounding the mill. Together they find a grand total of nothing. A very confusing nothing.

Deep within the building structures of the Mill, two extra guards were added to the outside the quarters of two prisoners. Fire extinguishers were used to smother the burning remains of the vehicles and apart from that absolutely nothing happened.

" Get the old man." The Man orders down the microphone as he stands and moves away from the cameras and strides out into the dark night. Coming to a stop under the wash of one of the huge flood lights. He stands surrounded by his 'army' for a moment in silence.

" Get your hands off me!" Mike commands as he is dragged roughly and easily across the dirt terrain by a vampire roughly three hundred pounds of pure undead muscle. Mike is unaware of the origin of his captor as he writhes like a child beneath the grip of the man. To silence his captive the vampire quickly wraps a strip of leather around Mike's face and head. Gagging him.

" Jack?" The Man calls out into the night. He is certain that the General is out there watching him. Waiting.

" Jack. I'm going to count to ten and then I'm going to put a bullet into the back of old Pop's head here." The Man yells. His threat is met with silence and The Man turns and looks at the Vampire.

" Wait for the count." The Man orders and the vampire pulls a forty four magnum pistol from a holster on his belt with one hand. Easily forcing Mike down onto his knees with the other. Mike's cries can still be heard muffled through the gag, and though not discernible they are audible.

" One!" The Man yells and he looks at his troops. " Watch the fence," He orders quietly.

" Two!" He waits a beat, watching the area keenly. " Three! You want to save him? All you have to do is to stop hiding. Jack! Stop hiding and you can save him. Four!"

" Five!" He yells and the vampire brings the gun up in front of Mike's face and cocks the pistol. Mike tries to look away from the opposing weapon. Starts to tremble in fear.

" The old man for the young man! Five!" The Man bellows and the only answer is his own echo, radiating off the old metal machinery of the mill.

" Six! You think that I'm playing Jack!" He screams now, becoming increasingly angry. Increasingly irate.

" Seven! It's the boy's fault Jack. That damned son of yours should have just played dead. We weren't hurting anyone! " He screams turning to face Mike dramatically.

" Eight." He calls softer staring into the frightened eyes of Mike, with a look of false compassion. Of false empathy. He moves to stand beside his hostage and he crouches besides him.

" He can save you but he won't. What kind of a man would do that?" The man asks Mike. " Nine." He whispers into Mike's ear.

" Last chance!" The Man yells making Mike jump at the loud noise so close to his ear. Sweat runs down the brow of the old man and he stops trying to be heard through the gag and closes his eyes. Preparing himself as best as his terrified mind will allow for what is about to happen. He is okay with this, he tells himself. Sara will be saved. He tells himself. Jack will save her. Jack will save them both. The mantra rings in his mind.

" Ten!" The Man screams in disgust and the retort by the big gun is like another explosion. Then the night falls silent. The Vampire looks up at The Man and shrugs.

" There is no one out there." He says amused and The Man turns and storms back into the building in disgust.

" Kinda funny when you think about it. " The Vampire chuckled looking around for someone to agree with him. " Like an actor performing to an empty theatre." He adds poetically before grabbing the hand of a limp Mike, who had fainted when the gun was fired behind his head into the dust.

" All the world's a stage." The Vampire mutters as he drags Mike along the ground back to the building. Around him some of the men return to the building as well. Some take up their posts around the compound. They like The Man are convinced. There is nothing out there. Whoever was there has gone.

Four hundred yards from the fence. Up wind and crouched behind a boulder, Xander throws up. He sits frozen in the night while his thumping heart quietens. Until the sweat that has broken out on his brow dries and until his breath comes to him again naturally. He tells himself that he's done well. That he knows now the weakest point in the compound's defence. How he saw the men race to the site of the explosion and leave the right side of the compound exposed. He tells himself it was important to test the responses of his enemy. Tells himself that he knew The Man's threats were a bluff. That last part he repeats for awhile, and then he is ready to move.

This time when he breaches the perimeter of the compound he does so by cutting the wire in the fence. Not as he did last time by climbing over it. Like before he loiters in one of the security cameras blind spot until the two vampires on a roving patrol come past. He knows that although they wear radio equipment they do not routinely call in as they move around the compound. He knows know that it will be a good fifteen minutes until they are missed. If at all.

Killing the vampire patrol must be done in complete silence and Xander pulls the machete off his belt well before the vamps approach. Just in case they are alerted by the rustle it makes as it is pulled from it's sheath. He waits not moving, holding his breath as the vampires pass. The are close together sharing a quiet joke as they pass the boring night. Creatures of the night, such as themselves they believed, were below being used as hired body guards.

Xander waits for them to get past him before he explodes from the shadows, his stake sliding powerfully through the back of the vampire closest to him. The vamp explodes and as his partner turns toward the threat, Xander takes his head off with a machete. Ten seconds, no noise and two dead vampires. Xander allows himself a small smile of pride as he kicks dust away into the breeze.

After pouring a trail of gas from two more vehicles a small voice inside his head tells Xander that it's time to go loud.

The Man can hardly believe it as another explosion rocks the compound and he stares at the monitors before him in disbelief as two more of his black SUV's are destroyed in flames.

" I want his head on a platter!" He screams down the Microphone. " Get out there and find him!" He orders snatching an MP5 off the table in his surveillance room and running from the building. He is furious at his men and himself for not checking the other vehicles for more explosive devices. He has underestimated Jack and Jack would be the one that paid.

The men swarm the compound again, fanning out in the same formation they had used in the earlier attack. But this time they pull open the gates and several heavily armed men accompany Vampires in rushing out into the area around the mill.

Xander slips through a small window, broken long ago by teenage pranksters, and drops quietly to the ground inside the building. He sniffs the air and moves to the doorway of the room he has arrived in. Once out in the hallway he nearly crashes into an extremely surprised man in a jet black uniform.

The man moves to yell a warning to his comrades, trying to bring up his weapon at the same time from where it was hanging off a strap wrapped around his body. Xander strikes the man in the face with the heel of his palm, smashing the soldier's nose. He follows the move up with a strike to the throat as the soldier's hands fly to his injured nose. A final blow to the side of the soldier's head and he is unconscious.

Xander catches his victim as he falls and pulls him into the empty room he has just emerged from. He souvenirs the man's high powered weapons with a grin. Allowing instinct to take over as he checks the weapon and moves back out into the hallway.

There is yelling from the compound. And Xander crosses a large cavernous space inside the old Mill quickly and quietly. At the end of the space, a group of four soldiers are waiting, weapons ready, guarding two doors.

Outside a secondary explosion from the cars sounds deafening and Xander uses the cover to open fire on the men. Holding back a disgusted sigh at himself for cutting down four humans. The men, their bodies destroyed by the quick bursts from Xander's weapon fall to the ground. Offering no resistance and Xander bolts towards the doors.

Kicking in the first door Xander discovers Sara huddled against the far wall in the room. Her hair is tangled but she appears unharmed. She stares up at her son in shock. For a moment she is frightened of the figure before her. Xander stands in the door way dressed from head to toe in black, holding a machine gun and barks an order at her.

" Move now!" Sara scurries to her feet quickly and runs towards her Son. She looks across the hallway.

" Dad!" She cries and Xander turns and ducks out of the room for a brief second before ploughing through the door opposite.

Mike is slumped on the floor, lying on his side and Sara rushes to him.

" Dad?" She asks tearing up shaking her Father's shoulders for a response. The old man doesn't react and she slaps the side of her fathers face and Mike's eyes open in surprise.

" Sara?" He asks struggling into a sitting position and Sara nods, crying now, at her Father.

" What's going on?" Mike demands turning around to catch a glimpse of Xander standing in the door way, gun ready.

" Jack?" Mike asks catching sight of the build and posture of the man before him, and Sara shakes her head as she hauls her Father to his feet.

" No Dad. It's Xander." She explains as the rush towards the door.

" We gotta move." Xander says quietly, " I'll explain later." He says and ducks his head out of the doorway.

" Ok let's go home." He calls from the hallway and Mike and Sara stick close to Xander as they move back across the cavernous space. The journey is less careful and not nearly as quiet as the first crossing. They make it about halfway before bullets start pinging into the machinery around them.

Sara and Mike dive to the ground in response, shielding their heads from the projectiles. They move when they hear Xander tell them.

" Get behind me."

" Run!" Xander shouts as he turns and opens fire at the direction the bullets came.

The Shooter, ducks behind an old saw and Xander moves backwards across the floor, firing as he shepards Mike and Sara across the open space. Dropping the gun as it runs out of ammo he pushes Sara and Mike into the room with the still unconscious soldier.

" Out the window!" Xander hisses shutting the door and turning back to the soldier, his hands flicking through the man's pockets and along his belt until he rips the whole belt off in frustration.

Sara and Mike climb awkwardly through the window and Xander follows more gracefully. Turning back sitting on the window sill as the door creaks open he pullsthe pin on a stolen hand grenade and flings the bomb inside the room as he flings himself outside. Falling nearly on top of Mike and Sara.

Xander pulls Mike and Sara down as a ball of flames follows him out the window. The three cower in the dirt for a moment, before Xander jumps to his feet ready to move again.

" This way!" He calls hoarsely leading his family back towards the cut fence.

They make it halfway, Sara and Mike hunched forward and running low and terrified before a vamp catches up with them.

" Hmm, midnight snack." The undead creature muses looking at Sara as Xander pulls the stake from his pocket and lunges at the vamp in an overhead strike.

" Go!" He yells to his family as he attacks. And he can see for a moment in his peripheral vision Sara and Mike rush past him.

The vamp catches Xander's arms as they crash towards it's chest and the force behind Xander causes the vamp to fall backwards, but it kicks out as it goes down. Catching Xander in the stomach with a boot and flipping him over it's head. The Vamp flips too. The fighting pair end up with Xander lying on the ground and the vampire straddling him. Pinning his arms with his thighs.

" It's like I'm the cheese on top." The vamp muses as Xander's arm scrabbles at his pockets desperately. He bucks his body up and down trying to dislodge the vampire.

" Top this." Xander retorts as he pulls the pin on a magnesium flare and holds it to the vamp's leg. The vamp ignores the pain for a moment before he screams and rolls away from the intense heat.

This time it was Xander that rolled with him and as he got the vampire on his back he punched the vampire in the chest. Impaling the flare in the vulnerable skin over the vampire's heart. The magnesium burns through the skin of the vampire and Xander turns his head in disgust as the vampire explodes.

Xander jumped up into a crouch and scanned the area around him, looking for new threats. But for the moment it seems like he's in the clear. Turning Xander starts running. Slipping through the fence and sprinting away into the night.

He catches up to Sara and Mike easily and grabs Sara by the arm. Pulling her in the direction he wants to go in.

" This way!" He yells jumping into a dry creek bed that ran beside the mill. Crouching low the trio speed down the rocky road.

From the other side of the Mill shots rang out again, but Xander ignores them and kept running. His enemy were disorientated and in disarray, they were more likely to be shooting at themselves then at the family that had slipped, nearly unnoticed away into the night.

His only thoughts now was of getting Sara and Mike to safety. And the safest place he could think of was the fortified base he'd just escaped from. Consequences to himself be damned. He was going back to Jack.

To Be Continued...

AN: Sorry for the huge gap in time between updates. Standard Disclaimer still applies. Hope you enjoyed the latest part. Read and Review people, it spurs me on.


	22. Ask and He Shall Recieve

Standard Disclaimer Applies

As a response to fear anger was an emotion he experienced frequently. Off world his anger was used as a way of channelling his energy into fighting an enemy or leading an escape plan. On world it had helped him to the position in the Air Force that he held now. Jack O'Neil never backed down from a fight, he never ran away. His legendary bravery wasn't because he didn't feel fear. No his bravery came from the simple fact that being scared made him really, really angry. And a lot of people had learnt the hard way that if there is one thing you didn't want to do, it was to make Jack O'Neil Angry.

Jack storms the room and glares across a table in it at his Son. Who is back safely sitting in a holding room on a well fortified sub level. His ex-wife and ex-father in law enjoying a rest in some base accommodation on a level considerably closer to the surface. Jack sighs as he thinks of the last thing Sara had said to him before he went to have a word with Xander.

" Don't you be too hard on him Jack. He's just like his father and neither of you can help that."

Jack had been sitting with his team trying to break the impossibly high security clearance on an FBI file about his son when the call from the gate had come in. A call that explained that they had just recaptured the prisoner that had escaped earlier that evening. And that he was accompanied by two people who had demanded to see the General. Needless to say Jack had been more then a little surprised. More then a little irked by the news.

" What the hell were you thinking!" Jack yells not waiting until he is through the doorway to start yelling. of the interrogation room with his team hot on his heels.

Xander who is leaning back in his chair, with only two of the legs resting on the ground, rocks the chair forward and it hits the ground with a thump.

" Excuse me?" Xander asks putting up a protest.

" You nearly killed two of my guards!" Jack continues not even able to control his anger for one moment and focus on the most important line of questioning. That of course being how his carpenter Son managed to find and bring to safety his imprisoned Mother and Grandad.

" Hardly Jack. I just gave them a little love tap is all." Xander shoots sarcastically back on the defensive now. It's not like he didn't expect this, but he isn't keen at being yelled at by anyone. Not after the long night he's just had.

" And going after Sara and Mike by yourself. Have you lost your mind?" Xander shrugs dismissively, only infuriating Jack more.

" That worked out all right. Not a scratch on them. Not a scratch on me." He replies and Jack feels like ripping his Son's head clean from his smug little shoulders.

" That's hardly the point!" Jack yells back and Xander pushes the chair back and stands.

" Excuse me but if you weren't going to go and get them then I was!" Xander fires back and Jack's eyebrows shoot skywards.

" How could I have gotten them? You didn't tell me where they were!"

" I didn't know where they were!" Xander hollers back.

" Then how the hell did you know where to find them?" Jack bellows and Xander quirks a smile at him.

" Sometimes all you got to do is ask the right person."

" Why not tell me who this person was?" Jack demands

" What with the whole holding me prisoner thing, I was generally inclined to believe that you wouldn't include me in the follow up." Xander tells Jack, who quietens.

" You pulled a gun on my team. What am I supposed to do just give you a time out and pretend it never happened?"

" Yeah, very sorry about that." Xander says insincerely.

Xander falls silent and for the first time notices that the team is standing in the room with him. The big guy with the golden tattoo is just off to Jack's right and staring at him intently. Xander's lips curl up in an involuntary snarl and the guy cocks his head curiously. and A brunette with a short top and sides up the back snorts. Xander and Jack both send him a synchronised glare which only gets in response another smothered snort.

" Sorry." Mitchell apologises and he moves forward and extends a hand towards Xander. " I'm Cameron Mitchell." He says introducing himself, and Xander shakes the offered hand briefly as Mitchell turns to the rest of the group. " That's Sam, Daniel and the big guy is Teal'c." Xander looks at each member in the room and shakes the offered hands from Sam and Daniel. Jack shakes his head.

" Sorry don't let us interrupts." Daniel offers waving a hand, " Go on fighting."

Jack shoots him a look that is somewhere between angry and thankful and he drops his head.

" Follow me. We have a couple of questions." He explains the fight leaving him for the moment and stalks out the door. Xander waits for the other team members to follow but it soon becomes clear that they intend to follow him. With a sigh, Xander walks out after his Father and is lead on a twisting journey through the bowels of the base.

Once again Xander is struck by the enormity of the structure he is walking through. To think that the whole facility was set actually inside of the mountain was mind boggling. But then again not unusual for the military. The Initiative had their secret base under an entire college in Sunnydale. Spanning several blocks, complete with evil demonic creations and the 21st centuries own version of the Nazi experiments.

" How far does this place go down?" Xander asks conversationally to Sam who has popped up besides him.

" It's pretty big." Sam replies obviously with an answer she routinely gives. To visiting whoevers or other previous prisoners.

Xander watches her for a second. And even though he is aware that she is aware he's looking, he scans the short blonde hair and glances over her comfortably worn BDUs all the way down to her well worn boots. It is the boots that he finds the most intriguing and his gaze lingers on them a moment. Then he shrugs and turns back to watch the back of Jack as he strides ahead of them.

Finally after winding past a heavy set of steel doors, through an empty control room and up a set of winding metal stairs, they came to a stop in a conference room. The main feature of the room being a huge set of internal windows which were being curtained by more massive steel doors. Xander wonders what the hell the windows could be looking over, seeing as they were several hundred feet below the surface of the earth. He ponders them for a moment, then turns away.

" What is this place?" Xander asks as he obediently sits in the proffered chair Jack points to.

" Originally Cheyenne Mountain was a Nuclear Silo in the cold war." Sam offers as she too takes a seat.

" I meant now." Xander asks noticing again how Sam had easily deflected his question, with an answer similar to what he had asked, but hardly relevant.

" It's an Air Force base for Deep Space Telemetry." Jack states and sits down himself. Soon all the members of the team are sitting around the table. All looking at Xander.

" Deep space telemetry?" Xander asks with a smile surveying all around him. His eyes coming to rest on Teal'c. He sniffs the air experimentally and frowns. No way was the big guy human. No way. " What does the big one do? Hold the telescope up?" Xander continues staring at Teal'c watching for a reaction.

Teal'c once again tilts his head slightly and replies speaking for the first time and the deep baritone causes the hairs on the back of Xander's neck to stand on end.

" I am Daniel Jackson's research assistant."

Xander looks at him, thinking through a number of possibilities. Not vampire, that was clear. No smell of decay pretty much ruled out any of the undead possibilities. No scent of blood cleared a whole range of nasties. If he were a werewolf there would be a slight musty odour. But Xander sniffs again, no musty odour. There was no hesitation to use English, he wasn't hiding any tentacles and he wasn't an abnormal colour or shape.

" What is it exactly that Daniel Jackson researches?" Xander enquires with seeming less politeness.

" This base was built on some historically and culturally significant grounds." Daniel chimes in and Xander fixes him with a stare. He had been having fun with the big guy, trying to decipher his secret.

" The military is cooperating with you?" Xander asks unconvinced abandoning Teal'c and asking in a disbelieving tone, and Daniel nods.

" Interesting." Xander says simply and he looks across at Sam and Mitchell.

" You look kinda geeky Sam, you playing scientist?" He asks and Sam shoots him a cold glare for the geeky comment but nods.

" I'm actually the senior astrophysics advisor on the program." She says with enough pride in her voice to actually convince Xander that she was really a scientist.

" What about you Mitch? You a scientist?"

" No, I'm a pilot. I'd tell you why the program needs a pilot but I'm afraid that would be classified." Mitchell states and Xander breaks into a grin.

" My clearance level not high enough? Or if you tell me will you have to kill me?" He jokes and Jack looks him over with a cool stare.

" Speaking of clearance levels. We were trying to access the file that landed you in all this trouble, and we don't have the clearance level to open it. You know why that would be?" Xander looks away from the grinning Mitchell and shakes his head bemused.

" Nope, could be scientists don't have exceptionally high clearance levels." He deadpans and waits for his assumption to be challenged but no one at the table takes the bait.

" Something hinky's going on." Mitchell agrees with Jack, " Something you're not telling us perhaps?" He asks and Xander shakes his head thoughtfully.

" Nope. Can't think of anything." He shoots a pointed stare at Teal'c " Anything you're not telling me?" He asks after a beat.

" No." Jack states then continues " So Alex, while you were out playing one man HRT, we've been trying to work out what the hell is going on." Jack explains and Xander gives him a confused glance.

" Sorry HRT?" He asks, knowing full well what the letters stood for.

" Hostage Rescue Team." States Jack.

" It was hardly that, more like a little sneak and entering I think." Xander said coyly and sent Jack a comforting smile, that did everything else but comfort the older man.

On the walk through the woods and to the base. Xander had managed to convince Sara and Mike that it was hardly in the best interests for anyone to tell Jack that Xander had rescued them under a blaze of gunfire. He'd also managed to get them to agree to not mention anything about, exploding SUVs, and playing chicken with his Grandad's life. Man that had been an awkward conversation with Mike.

" So did you find anything out about anything?" Xander asks turning the conversation away from himself and towards himself, wait that wasn't going to work, he thought, sitting forward in his chair.

" Yeah. We found out some rather interesting things." Jack nods and Xander feels his stomach flip flop nervously. What the hell does Jack mean by that?

" For starters," began Sam, " We know that the NSA doesn't have a team in Colorado at the moment. That they aren't even investigating the bombing of Sunnydale High." Xander frowns in confusion but allows Sam to continue before he interrupts.

" In fact, no one is investigating the bombing. According to the official investigation there was no bombing. The explosion that destroyed Sunnydale High was ruled accidental by the Sunnydale Coroners office, a result that was agreed upon by an investigative team from the FBI. This leaves us with a number of really intriguing questions. " Sam explains and then pauses, Xander's convinced it's for dramatic effect.

" Like who's in town pretending to be the NSA." Jack interrupts.

" And why you would confess to a bombing that wasn't a bombing?" He demands and Xander turns to look at him, cutting out the attitude for the moment.

" I told you already, there was a build up of natural methane gas beneath the school that exploded." Xander starts softly, " But the explosion was made significantly more devastating by the manure that we had stashed in the library." He pauses thinks of that day, the horror, the screams.

" People died Jack. Kids I knew. Kids I went to school with. Friends of mine. " Xander says quietly he looks away from the people at the table. " That's my fault. " He finishes and there is silence in the room for a heart wrenching second.

" Ok." Mitchell says suddenly breaking the still that has descended on the room. " So if no one is investigating the bombing, who's in town investigating the bombing?" He asks directing the question towards Sam.

" Honestly no idea. But the only file we've been able to find on Xander was that FBI file that we can't access."

" The FBI's behind this?" Xander asks and Jack shakes his head.

" I don't think so." Jack says calmly. " The FBI don't have an active investigation involving you either. In fact there is not one single law enforcement agency in the world that have you listed as a suspect for anything." He adds and Xander stares at him a quirk of a smile on his face.

" Don't say it like that, it makes you seem too proud." He deadpans and Jack shoots him a glare. Xander sighs, what a wonderful Father Son report he's developing.

" So I guess the question remains," Daniel interrupts the tension between Parent and offspring by interjecting, " Who's in town running around kidnapping people and pretending to be the NSA?"

" The Trust." Xander answers remembering what Peter told him, he looks around the room but the room has gone quiet.

" What?" Jack asks in a strangled voice.

" I'm guessing this is an organisation that you lot are somewhat familiar with?" Xander asks rhetorically based on the response of all people in the room.

" Who told you about the Trust?" Sam asks intensely.

" Dad did. " All eyes look to Jack as Xander realises his mistake. " no my Dad, Not my Dad, cause that would be Jack who's never mentioned the trust. I mean Anthony Harris. Or Tom. Ok the man I used to call Dad." Xander babbles off , shooting a glance at Jack, who is now quietly fuming at the end of the table.

" What did he tell you?" Mitchell asks as Jack sits in stony silence.

" Nothing. He just gave me a name, their name. Why? What do you know about them?" He demands and the team glance at each other.

" Not much." Jack replies tersely and Xander shakes his head.

" Bullshit." He spits but the team stays silent. " Oh come on!" Xander cries indignantly " Don't I have a right to know who shot me in the head?" He demands looking at Jack who shakes his head.

" I can't its classified." Jack offers lamely as an excuse and Xander stares at him.

" Unclassify it." He instructs sternly and Jack stares him down and shakes his head.

" Can't do it." Jack states.

Xander pushes angrily away from the table and moves over to the window leaning his forehead against the glass and forcing himself to take deep breaths.

" I get your patriarchal notion of protection Jack." He starts, his back turned to Jack. " But I'm a big boy now, and this can work one of two ways. Either you stop trying to wrap me up in cotton wool and work with me and tell me what you know."

" Or?" Jack demands

" Or I find out by myself." Xander challenges and Jack shoots his son a smile.

" Oh yeah, how are you going to do that?"

Xander closes his eyes and turns around, when he opens his eyes again, the look he shoots Jack is not the normal gaze of a twenty two year old. But the stone cold, flat calculated stare of the hyena. An unpleasant feeling settles itself in the pit of Jacks stomach.

" I'll go ask them." His lips quirk in thought and he looks away as he says, " I'm very good at asking questions."

To Be Continued….

Read and Review, with any mistakes you notice please.


	23. And Everyone's OK With This?

Standard Disclaimer Applies

AN: Big thanks to my shiny new beta reader Lori! Thanks for all your help!

The Man looks out over the smoldering remains of the forecourt of the old mill. There is a flash in the corner of his eye, and he turns slowly to the men who have just appeared. "I dont know what to say...," The Man starts, and one of the two men holds his hand up to silence him.

"You have failed."

"I will get you the boy."

"Time has run out. We will deal with this ourselves."

"I know O'Neill. I can get what you need," The Man argues, and he is silenced again.

"This isn't about manipulating a man into a suicide mission anymore. This is about a bigger cause. The boy is the key. He must be brought in now. We will discuss the repercussions of your failure later."

The light flashes again, and The Man is once more standing alone. His heart hammering in his chest, he hangs his head and closes his eyes. Waiting.

The room stills and Jack takes a breath, trying to figure out what to make of his son who now seems to be doing a good impersonation of a sociopath. Before he can speak, the intercom on the table shrills loudly and Walters voice filters into the room.

"General, there is a call from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff on line one." Jack turns back towards the phone.

_"The_ Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff?" Mitchell wonders out loud.

Jack shoots Xander a final questioning look before ducking into his office.

"_Well, that could have gone worse_," Xander tells Willow on the other side of the country.

"_Give the poor guy a chance_," Xander, his best friend tells him in return.

Daniel pushes away from the table and walks over to where Xander is stoically staring at the steel blast doors, seemingly oblivious to the other people in the room.

"Go easy on him, Xander," Daniel starts, and Xander pulls his gaze away to regard the archaeologist.

"You were pretty well known in the world of history, weren't you?" Xander asks suddenly.

Daniel starts in surprise. "You've heard of me?" he asks, incredulous.

"I had a friend studying Anthropology, and your name came up in conversation once. Something to do with Aliens carrying off the great pyramids, or something?" Xander turns to give Daniel his full attention, and he observes silently how Daniel pulls his glasses off, hastily, to rub his eyes.

"Ah, it was actually kind of the reverse, but . . . yeah, that would be the general drift of things."

"So, Alex! Tell us a bit about yourself," Mitchell interjects suddenly, and Daniel shoots him a not-so-subtle look of thanks.

Xander looks between the two thoughtfully, internal gears in his brain whirring in thought. He looks back at Mitchell.

"Well, for starters, I prefer to be called Xander," Xander explains.

Mitchell raises his eyebrows and nods. "Okay, Xander, then. What do you do?" Mitchell continues.

"I'm a carpenter."

"That's cool. Build anything recently?"

"Ah, I fixed Sara's garden seat. But apart from that . . . ," Xander trails off and changes the subject. "Do you think that I could go see her?" He muses, looking at the closed door of Jack's office.

"Soon," Sam assures him, and Xander looks towards her, where she's still seated at the table.

"Have you known Jack a long time?" Xander wonders.

Sam nods. "Yeah, about 10 years. Daniel's known him for about fourteen. He's a good man, Xander. A very good man."

At the same time that Sam finishes her reassurance the door to Jack's office flings itself open, and Jack walks out looking harried.

"Alex, the General would like a word," he says in disbelief.

"What?" Xander asks, dumbfounded.

"Line One," Jack continues, as the rest of the team members manage to pull their assorted jaws off the floor.

Xander doesn't move; he's just standing still in the middle of the room in disbelief. Wondering why the Chair of the Joint Chiefs would ever want to talk to him.

"Probably shouldn't keep him waiting," Sam suggests helpfully, after a moment of frozen silence.

"Huh?" Xander asks, snapping out of a dazed expression and grabbing the phone off the conference room table.

"Hello?" he asks nervously, very aware that all eyes in the room are currently on him. He twirls the phone cord around his finger.

"Ah, no Sir. Um, I'm actually kind of just visiting, Sir," Xander explains in response to a question, shooting Jack a look as he does so.

"Well, that part's pretty complicated, and I'd rather not go into the specifics." Xander bites his lip as he listens further.

"Uh, I can assure you that, if it was at all related to the situation that occurred before, then I would of course tell you _immediately_," Xander lies, thumping a closed fist into his forehead.

"Ah. No, they're not. Most of them are still where they were, at the time when that incident occurred at that place, that one time."

"Not deliberately confusing, Sir. No. I was aiming more at 'subtle.'" Xander looks around. Jack has his hand pinched over the bridge of his nose and looks almost in pain. The rest of the team members are shaking their heads with amusement and awe.

"Um, Okay, will do," Xander utters and hangs up the phone, breathing a sigh of relief.

The room is silent and, as Xander turns around, he can see that they are waiting for an explanation, but he's not about to offer one. What would he say, anyway?

"Nice chat?" Jack deadpans.

Xander just looks at him, completely at a loss for what to say. Honestly, he was beginning to feel as though he was losing control of the whole situation.

"I guess what I'm asking, " Jack continues, "is why the most powerful man in the United States Military just called me to demand why we were investigating the past of one, Alexander Harris. And why he then ordered that, under no circumstances, would there be further investigation of that same Alexander Harris."

Again, Xander is speechless.

"Alex!" Jack demands, and Xander shrugs his shoulders, helplessly.

"I can't really go into it, Jack," he mutters apologetically.

"You can't go into it?" Jack repeats, his eyes darkening.

"It's classified, " Xander mumbles and sinks into a chair that he had been standing next to. Then he adds, "This is all getting just a little weird." He sighs as he rests his head in his hands for a moment.

Then, forgetting where he was for just a moment and getting a little confused, he concludes, "No, just me."

"What?" Sam asks, not following the apparently random statement.

"Huh?" Xander asks and frowns. "Did I say that last bit out loud?"

Mitchell and Daniel nod, and Xander bites his lip.

"Sorry, it's been a really long day."

From behind him Jack sighs and wanders over to his own chair. Falling into it he sighs again and looks at his son.

"I wish you'd just tell us what the hell is going on," he muses, and Xander looks up at him wearily.

"Feeling's mutual, Jack," he replies. "But it's classified. On both fronts. Which puts us both at a bit of an impasse."

The two fall into silence again before Jack sighs heavily.

"If I get Carter to fill you in on the Trust, will you let my team take the lead on questioning them?" Jack bargains.

"Doesn't sound like a fair trade at all, Jack," Xander replies honestly, feeling frustrated.

"You honestly think I'm going to let you come along? Last time I did that you nearly caught a bullet with your head!" Jack exclaims, and Xander rolls his eyes.

"Stop being so dramatic. Take it from the Joint Chiefs, I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself," Xander lies.

"You want to go down that path?" Jack demands, and Xander throws his hands up in the air.

"Dammit, Jack!"

"What? You're asking me to put you at risk, and I won't do it!" Jack shouts back.

"No. I am asking you to let me make my own decision. For crying out loud, I'm 22 years old, Jack!"

"These people. The Trust. They will stop at nothing to get what they want. And until we know what that is, I don't want you anywhere near them," Jack pleads.

Xander starts to rebut, then stops. He knows what it's like to lose someone you love. He remembers how he felt when Buffy fell from the tower. The overwhelming sadness that struck him when he looked at her lying broken in the rubble. Knows how he felt when Buffy came back from the dead. How a tightness would develop in his chest every time she went out to patrol, afterwards. Was it like that for Jack? Did his stomach clench with fear? Fear of feeling that same horrible, haunting loss again. Buffy was his family, sure, but that couldn't compare to losing a child, could it?

Looking at Jack, he can see the lines of tension around his eyes. His mouth is set tightly, jaw clenched. Hands fisted on the table. A perfect portrait of stress.

"You'll tell me who they are?"

Jack looks slightly taken back by the sudden change in attitude from his son, but he nods anyway.

"I'll tell you anything, if you just stay here where you're safe," Jack agrees.

"Fine, Jack," Xander says quietly. "If it's what you want, I'll . . ."

There is a flash of light, and suddenly, a woman in a long white gown is standing beside the window.

"… What the hell!" Xander finishes, as several of the members of SG1 leap from their chairs.

The woman turns and looks upon Xander with a smile.

"I had feared that I would be too late, Alexander. I am grateful that I have reached you in time," she says pleasantly, and Xander's eyes open wide in shock.

"Excuse me?" he manages in a feeble voice, and from behind him the noise of the safety being taken off a weapon can be heard.

"There is no need for alarm, Cameron Mitchell. I am not here to harm you, " the woman says gently, but when Xander turns to look at Mitchell he can see the military man hasn't backed down at all.

"If it's all the same to you, " he states, "I'll just keep this at the ready."

"Who are you?" Jack demands.

"My name is Gabrielle," the woman says with a small nod of the head.

Daniel leans further around Teal'c to ask, "Sorry, did you say, 'Gabrielle'?"

Gabrielle nods

"And you're an Ancient?" Daniel asks again. All the team members shoot him a look, and Jack indicates Xander with his head, as if to say, 'Ixnay about the Ancients-way.'

"I was. Once." Gabrielle offers, and again turns her attention to Xander. "These days I am more closely affiliated with the Powers That Be," she informs him.

"Damn, and I thought you were such a sweet, nice lady," Xander shoots back in a deadpan. He turns to the group around him. "I'm sorry, but this lady just popped out of nowhere. Am I the only one surprised by this?" He asks incredulously.

"I'm kind of surprised," Mitchell replies.

"You get used to it, I think," Daniel offers.

"Daniel!" Jack snaps, and Xander looks at him with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" Daniel asks, and then turns to indicate Xander. "It's not like he was overly surprised, himself."

"Now all eyes are upon Xander, and he swallows and turns away, back towards Gabrielle.

"Sorry, you were saying . . . ?" he prompts, and Gabrielle smiles at him, a smile that reaches her eyes and makes her cheeks brighten. She looks around at the inquisitive stares in the room and waves her hand gently through the air. Dismissing the mere mortals seated at the table.

"I have come to warn you, Alexander. There are men coming. Men who wish to use you for their own purpose. I have been sent to help."

"Thanks, all the same. But I've had some dealings in the past which would indicate that I might just be better off without any interference by the PTB at all," Xander says with a shake of his head.

"We have been searching for our Champion for some time, Alexander. We have been searching for you for many years," the woman counters, and Xander moves away shaking his head.

"I'm not a Champion. You want a Champion, go ask Angel. Go ask anyone who's not me!" He argues

"We do not choose our Champion, any more than you choose to be a Champion," the woman offers.

"That's just great," Xander mutters.

"Sorry," says Jack, standing and moving over to his son, "But would someone mind telling me what the hell is going on?"

"I could tell you everything," Gabrielle says sweetly, "But there would be little point. You will retain no memory of this conversation. It was meant only as a message to Xander."

"What message?" Xander asks

"There will come a time when you must make a terrible choice. This message is only to remind you of your past. Of the life you have lived. Of the lives you have saved. Not of the life you might have once had."

"That's a shocking message!" Xander begins, glad of a chance to flex his sarcasm muscles, but there was no point. Mid-mockery, the light shone again and Gabrielle was gone.

Mitchell swivels his head around, gun still drawn, and looks at his team members, one after another. "Okay. Everyone else saw the lady in the white dress too, right?" He asks nervously, and Daniel nods.

"I can remember her being here, but it's the darnedest thing . . . "

Sam cuts him off, to save time. "You just can't remember what she said?" she asks, and Teal'c nods gravely from the back of the room.

"But what's the point in popping in, if no one remembers why she was here afterward?" Mitchell questions, holstering his side-arm.

"Someone remembers what she said," Jack announces, indicating Xander who had wandered off to look out the windows again.

"So?" Jack continues, and Xander turns to look at him, obviously distracted. "So? What did she say?" Jack demands

"Someone's coming . . . ," Xander starts, and behind him a siren starts to wail.

"Unscheduled Off-World Activation!"

"… Scratch that. I think they might already be here."

TBC

R&R


	24. Good Golly Goddess

Standard Disclaimer Applies

AN: My Beta Lori rules! Thanks Lori, you've got the old muse working again.

Chapter 24.

Jack looks across at Sam and, with one glance, Sam is out of the room and heading down the stairs. The rest of the team stays where they are, silently watching Xander as he watches them right back.

"What the hell is going on?" Xander asks finally.

But before anyone has a chance to answer, Sam's voice calls up the metal staircase, "General! You'd better get down here, Sir."

"What now?" Jack asks himself in a mutter, as Mitchell nips down the stairs in front of him.

Jack makes it to the staircase and looks back towards Xander, who is staring at him intently from the other side of the conference room. His instinct is just to leave his son standing there. At least he'd be further away than the rest of them, from whatever emergency has cropped up. But he shakes his head and waves Xander over.

"You coming?" He asks, and feels a stir of parental pride at the beaming smile that suddenly erupts across his son's face.

Xander bounds across the floor in a few easy strides, casting a sideways glance towards Teal'c as he passes. Jack makes a mental note to get to the bottom of this instant dislike Xander still seems to feel for Teal'c and heads down the staircase, with Xander close on his heels.

"Walter, what's going on?" Jack asks as soon as he hits the bottom rung on the ladder. The Gate technician looks up and indicates the gate room with a bemused expression.

"What the hell?" An astonished voice demands, and Jack looks up briefly to see Xander leaning over the control panel, his nose pressed up against the glass staring at the stargate.

Jack frowns himself, because the look he's seeing on his son's face is not the look of awe that usually dons the faces of those seeing the stargate for the first time. Xander looks almost angry as he glares through the glass.

Jack turns away and looks at the closed iris and the visitor standing in front of it.

"You open the iris, Walter?" Jack asks flatly, and Walter looks up and shakes his head.

"No, Sir," he replies.

"Any idea how our visitor got through, then?" Jack asks the room at large, as the visitor in question looks up at the window, head cocked to one side, and blows them a kiss.

"I don't like her," Mitchell deadpans.

"Anyone recognize her?" Sam asks, and Daniel observes the curly brown hair, the slinky red dress and the killer stilettos and shakes his head.

"This is General O'Neill. What's your business here?"

"No business," the figure purrs. "Just came to see an old friend. Xander, darling, how are you?" Glory finishes, and Jack turns in surprise as Xander lets out a growl.

"Friend of yours?" Mitchell asks, and Xander gives him a cold look.

"No," he replies flatly and looks across at Jack. "How strong are those big metal doors over there?"

"Strong," Jack replies.

"What, like an inch thick? Two inches?" Xander wonders, and Jack is left just staring at him for a moment.

"This used to be a nuclear missile silo. Those doors are strong enough to withstand a sizeable nuclear blast," Mitchell answers.

"Hmmm," Xander murmurs watching as Glorificus waves at him. "Can I talk to her?" he asks, and Jack nods and indicates the microphone.

Xander leans over. "Glory. You'll have to excuse me if I seem more than a little surprised to see you."

"Oh, baby, come on! You didn't think it would be that easy to get rid of me, did you?" Glory laughs.

"I had hoped so," Xander answers truthfully, and Glory laughs again. Sounding like a normal person. Sharing a normal joke. For some reason, it makes Xander angry.

"Cut the shit, Glory. What do you want?" He demands, his tone darkening.

"What do I want? Hmm, so many things. But alas, I am not here representing myself." Glory sighs dramatically, and Xander feels the urge to break through the window and drop another wrecking ball on the hell-goddess.

"Glory . . ." he growls.

"I have, of all things, an employer," Glory admits, disgustedly, and Xander feels the first twinge of relief. If the goddess were back at full strength, the last thing she would ever have is a job.

"Really?" he asks, genuinely interested.

"They wish to meet with you," Glory continues, and Xander lets out a laugh that Glory can see through the window but can't hear, as Xander didn't bother to laugh into the intercom.

"Glory, anyone who would employ you is not someone I would be interested in meeting," Xander replies mockingly, and Glory stamps her foot.

"Xander!" She exclaims angrily, "If it were up to me, you and your pathetic little world would be groveling at my feet and begging me for mercy!"

"Well, I think we can all be glad it is not up to you," Daniel mutters, and Jack turns to look at him with a quick shake of the head.

"Xander, you want to fill us in a little here?" Jack asks with a great show of patience.

"Ah, this is Glory. . . ." Xander pauses, because he has no intention, whatsoever, of telling Jack about the supernatural, the hellmouth. Or about the Slayers, Buffy and Faith.

"Glory was involved in an incident in California . . ." Xander continues, almost leaping to hug Sam when she interrupts with a question:

"Is that the incident the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs was referring to?"

"Uh-huh," Xander agrees quickly, and then he smiles, "And I'm wondering how she managed to appear inside an old Nuclear Silo, beneath a mountain?" Classic diversion technique.

"Oh, that thing behind her. The big metal circle. That's the stargate," Daniel explains, checking with Jack with a nod of his head before he continues. "The stargate creates stable wormholes that allow us to travel to other planets."

"What?" Xander asks, as his jaw drops. "Other planets? As in, not from earth and aliens and . . ." Xander trails off, and slowly his gaze turns to Teal'c. Staring in astonishment. His mouth still open. The former hell-goddess behind him completely forgotten for the moment.

"You're an alien!" Xander exclaims with an outstretched finger, and Teal'c tilts his head to one side quizzically.

"How could you possibly know that?" Mitchell asks, but Xander ignores him.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Xander demands, a sick feeling slipping into his stomach as he remembers just how close he came to shooting Teal'c at first sight.

"Why didn't we tell you that Teal'c was an alien?" Jack repeats dryly.

"Uh, Excuse me!" a tinny voice demands, outraged, and Xander turns to look over his shoulder at Glory.

"One second," he indicates by holding up one finger.

"So, you can use this stargate to travel to other planets?" Xander seeks confirmation, and Jack nods.

"And the Trust know about this?" Xander wonders, and everyone in the control room nods.

"Xander!" Glory yells, stamping her foot, and Xander holds up one finger again.

"How long has this been going on?" Xander asks, and Sam looks between Daniel and Jack.

"Xander!" Glory whines.

"About fourteen years," Jack admits, and Xander does some quick mental math.

"It started the same year that I 'died'?" He clarifies, and Jack nods.

"Xander!" Glory screeches, and Xander grabs the microphone.

"What!" He yells, the volume of his demand echoing around the gate room.

The team in the control room jumps and Glory stamps her foot again.

"Stop ignoring me!" she shouts back.

"If you would just go away, then I wouldn't have to ignore you!" Xander shouts back.

"Ooh, Xander Harris, if you think that you can talk to me like that! I am a . . .!" Glory is cut off as Xander accidentally leans on a button, shutting down the intercom.

From inside the gate room, Glory rants while Xander makes a pretense of being sorry and searching for the right button to press to reactivate the intercom.

". . . And if you think that you can just pretend the key . . . !" Xander made an 'oops' noise as he accidentally hit the wrong button again.

"Could you make this thing more complicated?" he muses to himself, as he finally fixes the 'problem'.

"Are you finished?" Xander demands of the former goddess, who lets out a scream of frustration.

"Easy now, Glory, you're going all splotchy," Xander cautions, and Mitchell lets out an involuntary snicker.

"Are you coming, or not? Glory demands, and Xander shakes his head.

"No. No way. No way in hell." Xander confirms.

"You're going to piss them off," Glory warns.

"Well, that would seem to be a specialty of mine."

"All they want to do is talk," Glory promises sweetly, and Xander nods.

"Fine. Then you tell them to come and talk here. But I'm not going anywhere with you."

There was another un-lady-like bellow of frustration, and the ring behind Glory started to spin.

"Walter?" Jack asks, as the tech starts to tap the panel in front of him.

"It's not me, Sir."

"Can you cut it off?" Jack demands, and Carter pushes forward to the control panel and starts beating out a frantic rhythm on the keyboard.

"I can't override it, Sir!" She calls out in alarm, as the metal sheeting across the stargate slides back.

"Outgoing or Ingoing, Sam?" Mitchell wonders, and Xander can hear the note of relief in Sam's voice as she answers.

"Outgoing. Looks like Glory is taking herself home. She must have a remote DHD," Sam explains, as a horizontal waterfall bursts from the gate.

"This is not the end," Glory states emphatically, before stepping through the wall of shimmering water and disappearing.

After a few seconds the water disappeared and the gate shut off, leaving everyone in the control room staring at Xander.

"This is so not good," Xander mutters, and Jack moves over to his son.

"So, who is she?" Jack asks, and Xander turns to stare at him with big, wide eyes.

"She doesn't matter. It's the people that can get her here that I'm concerned about," Xander admits honestly. "Very concerned."

"I know it's classified," Mitchell starts behind the pair, "But I'm going to make a wild guess that whatever happened in California was bad, in a big way. And it involved Glory?" Mitchell wonders, and Xander nods.

"So, how hard was she to stop by herself?" Sam asks, and Xander starts shaking his head, which was filling with unwanted memories. Memories of a dragon breaking through a rip in the sky. Of Dawn screaming. Of Buffy falling.

"Hard," he answers baldly, making Jack nervous with the haunted look on his son's face.

"So, if she's working for someone else now," Daniel asks, "How powerful would that person have to be, to attract her?"

"They'd have to be pretty bloody powerful," Xander admits.

There is a worried silence in the room for a moment, that stretches on and on, until it is broken by Sam.

"Okay, so how do we go about finding who she's working for? And what the hell they're up to?"

Xander shakes his head. He honestly has no idea. And he simply listens as the team bounces ideas off each other.

Finally, Jack turns to Xander with a wry smile. "It's cool, Xander. We'll figure this whole mess out," Jack says comfortingly, and Xander can only nod and smile in return, despite feeling anything but comforted.

To Be Continued

Read and Review


	25. Fox in The Hen House

**Fox in the Hen House**

Standard Disclaimer Applies.

AN: Sorry about the gap in updates people but I moved and not just houses I moved countries and didn't have an internet access for ages, and I mean ages. I know lame excuse but it's the truth, the truth I tells ya! Anyhoo, here's your story, hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 25

In the dark Sara is screaming, twisting her body in the grasp of the man who holds onto her. The shot comes faster than Xander expects. There is no banter beforehand, no familiar witty repartee, and he feels the impact like a punch in his chest and drops to his knees. His hands dab at the growing blood stain on his chest, and he looks up at Sara and sends her a small sad smile. She bucks harder against the arms holding her and finally breaks free, running towards her son. The men let her go and walk away. The sound of trucks starting in the dead of night echoes in the moonlight. Their headlights bathe Xander in a wash of light that illuminates the glistening blood on his shirt as they drive past.

His head sways and the world tilts sideways as he falls against the dirt, his arms not moving fast enough to even break his fall. The grains of gravel are rough against his cheek. Coughing brings the bitter taste of copper to his mouth. Then Sara arrives besides him, her breathing harsh and panicked but her hands on his shoulder caring and gentle as she turns him over onto his back.

"Alex, oh God. Oh, Alex." She sobs, pressing her hands through the blood pool on his chest into the wound beneath. The blood spills red over the whites of her knuckles and oozes between her fingers.

"Are _you _all right?" Xander asks through clenched teeth, and Sara can only answer with a nod as tears spill down her cheeks. She glances around frantically at the departing trucks, at the emptying lot. Out into the night.

"Somebody help me!" She screams into the night. "Please God! Somebody help me!" There is only silence in return, and she pulls off her jacket and presses it against Xander's chest. Blood seeps through the material and glides over the wrinkled skin of the backs of her hands.

"You're going to be just fine, baby," she tells the grown man before her. Her voice hiccups as she notices how white Xander's face is now. How the blood has drained from his lips. How he can't focus with his eyes. They stare off into space and he works hard to focus his look. Works hard to keep Sarah in sight.

"I'm gla--glad I found you," Xander stammers breathlessly, and Sara shakes her head.

"Don't talk like that, help will come. Jack will come. You just hold on," Sara says sternly, and Xander smiles through gritted teeth. A light sheen of sweat has broken out on his forehead. His body shakes with small tremors.

"Somebody! Help!!" Sara screams again, her voice interrupted by her own sobs as she presses harder on the wound killing her son.

"I will not lose you again." Looking back down, she tells him seriously, "You will not die. You got it, Mister? You will not die."

Xander nods and coughs, a dribble of blood works it's way down his chin. He coughs, choking on some blood caught in his throat. And Sara screams again.

"Help!! I need Help!!" She looks down at Xander again, his eyes are now starting to drift shut and then snap open again.

"Tell--Tell him. Tell him, I'm sorry. You'll tell him?" He asks, and his eyes close again.

"Xander?" Sara calls, before removing a blood soaked hand to slap her son across the face. He doesn't respond, and she slaps him again, leaving a red imprint of her palm on the blanched white skin of his face.

"Wake up!" She demands, "Wake up. Don't. Please don't." She sobs, collapsing against Xander's chest. And in one terrifying moment of realization she can tell that her son has stopped breathing. Sara screams as she starts in vain to frantically thump at Xander's chest with a closed fist.

Xander woke with such a start that he found himself sitting upright in bed, his breathing forced, his bed sheet tangled. His breathing slows as he touches a hand to his bare chest just to confirm that the skin is in fact intact. Then he jumps, as a voice sounds inside the cavern-like room.

"Your future? Your destiny, to die?" Tinny and disembodied, it seems to mock him.

Xander stands up quickly from the bed and looks around on guard.

"Come out and say that to my face," Xander challenges, but the room has fallen silent, and after a moment Xander is left standing in the dark, wondering if there was even a voice at all. Wondering which side had come haunting his dreams. Wondering if there were in fact two sides, and if there were, then in what war did they stand opposed?

Sleeping had been a mistake, and Xander dresses and heads back towards the conference room, where several hours ago the Stargate team had been desperately trying to figure out the conundrum that had been life of late.

Obviously, something big was on the horizon, and Xander had warned them that if Glory was involved it was end-of-the-world big. To Xander, this was confirmed by the appearance of the Powers That Be, but Gabrielle's appearance as an Ancient confused and concerned him. Especially with the revelation that entire solar systems and cultures and people existed in space. No wonder he couldn't sleep. No wonder he was haunted by bad dreams.

The team seems to have abandoned the conference room, so Xander moves across the floor and stares out of the windows into the inactive gate room.

"Xander?" Daniel asks behind him, causing the young man to jump in surprise.

"God, Daniel, you trying to scare me into a cardiac event?" Xander demands in jest, and the archaeologist smiles.

"You're up late," he comments, moving to stand near Xander, who makes a pretense of looking at his watch.

"Really, it's late? It's kinda hard to get used to being under the ground, feels like time's been turned upside down," Xander explains.

"Hmm, yeah, well we can work some pretty strange hours. I think it's a bit like flying internationally: the airport's always open, but sometimes the passengers have gone home."

"Do you get stargate-lag?" Xander wonders out loud, and Daniel shrugs,

"Can do, sometimes. I think, more often than not, it's your common, garden-variety of exhaustion."

Xander nods absently, staring back down at the gate room. Thinking of aliens and of machines capable of destruction and replication.

Shaking his head free of the dark thoughts, he forced himself to muse satirically, "Kinda terrifying and comforting all at the same time, really, isn't it? I mean, there are aliens in spaceships out there, millions of them from two different galaxies. But in a way, the same little stone ring that means they could come and get us is what protects us, as well," Xander concludes, and Daniel moves to stand beside him.

"How do you mean?"

"Well, I hardly see an alien armada fitting in the gate room," Xander quips. "Or a spaceship fitting through the ring at all. Be a tight fit."

"You seem to be taking the news well, regardless," Daniel notices, and Xander turns his back on the window.

"I guess I'm easy-going."

"That's the understatement of the year," Daniel counters, but Xander shakes his head with a wry smile.

"God, you should see Oz, king of the two-word sentences, unfazed by literally anything life throws at him. Masterful, really. I mean, I've tried it, and it's very difficult. But then, I've always been more of a babbler." Xander smiles again and looks towards Jack's office. "He in?"

Daniel shakes his head and then stops, as if he had suddenly remembered he wasn't supposed to tell anyone that.

"Well, does he have quarters here, or something?" Xander asks.

"Ah, yeah, he has a room down on sublevel 30. It's quite nice, actually. I think it used to be an old holding cell from years ago, before the new ones were put in with the reinforcements."

"Right, 'cause the prison-chic look is so hot right now," Xander quips, heading for the door, leaving an amused Daniel behind him.

The corridors of Stargate Command are quiet, but not empty. Guards stand watch at the doorways to elevators and stairwells leading to the lower levels, and the news of who Xander is must have spread around, because each guard gives him an appraising look but lets him past unchallenged. The perks of being the boss's kid, Xander guesses.

On the level assigned to command quarters, however, the hallways are deserted. Little need for security down here, where there are no classified materials, no aliens in holding cells, and no portals to other worlds.

Jack's door is labeled, and Xander knocks for a while, but there's no response. After trying the handle and finding the room locked, he has no choice but to turn away. He's nearly back at the elevator when he feels it. All the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end and deep inside his mind the hyena starts to laugh.

Xander spins around, glaring back down the empty corridor he has just traversed. He's not stupid or brave enough to either call out a hello or investigate whatever it is that's making the strong hyena nervous. Instead, keeping his back to the metal wall, Xander starts to hit the elevator button repeatedly with one hand and uses the other to pat down his pockets looking for a weapon. Nothing.

A quick glance over his head tells him the elevator is a long way off, and the sound of hyena's barking laugh is starting to get to him. His heart pounds in his chest, and he looks down the hallway with a dry mouth. Wind starts to whip up the concrete tunnel towards him and he stops hitting the call button and brings a hand up to his neck, to circle a protection amulet set on leather thongs hung around his neck.

Something brushes past his back and Xander jumps, whirling around, hands up ready to lash out at any potential attackers but there's nothing there. Just static electricity in the air that bristles at his scalp.

"Okay, fine, I'll say it. Is there anybody there?" Xander demands, feeling irritated as the hyena cackles get louder.

There's no answer, but the wind increases in strength and the lights above him start to flicker. Another check, and the elevator is still ten floors away. Then, suddenly, the hyena falls silent and the wind dies.

For a moment, the only thing that happens is nothing. No sound, no wind, no laughter, no movement. Nothing. Then sound returns, as the hyena starts to growl.

The blow comes unexpectedly from behind him and sends him sprawling in an ungainly fashion, down the corridor along the concrete floor. Confusion and pain rule as Xander tries to pick himself up and identify the threat towards him at the same time, but glancing around, he can't see anything. Yet, despite this apparent lack of anything, another blow hits him in the ribs. Xander curls around the blow trying to protect himself from the pain and any subsequent attacks, but as he lies gasping on the concrete nothing else happens.

Finally, after the white spots of pain dancing across his vision clear and the pain in his chest switches from a sharp stab to a sharp throb, Xander pulls himself to his feet and stands, arm wrapped around his torso. He closes his eyes and listens.

Discarding the slight buzz of the overhead fluorescent lights and the groan of the ventilation system, Xander concentrates on the other slight sounds around him.

There! He hears it, the merest hint of something scraping concrete, and he dives to the left, something glancing off his flank as he does so. Behind him now the elevator doors ping open, and Xander scrambles upwards and towards them. The empty elevator is welcoming him towards safety, but something snatches at the back of his shirt and he is pulled from the air and slammed against the concrete. His head cracks against the hard floor and above him he thinks he sees a billowing white robe before the darkness consumes him.

TBC

AN: Read and Review cause basically I'm starved for attention.


	26. JellO to You Too

Standard Disclaimer Applies

AN: Big Props to My Beta Lori, who is perhaps the world's bestest and most fastestest beta ever and whom without this wouldn't make much of the sense!!

Chapter 26

Jack pushes away the now empty Jell-o glass and looks up at Daniel, who is strolling into the commissary in the early hours of the morning, glasses in hand, rubbing tiredly at the lenses. He crosses the floor, looks down at Jack, and smiles,

"Insomnia must run in the family," Daniel quips, but the lame attempt at a joke is clearly lost on Jack.

"Huh?"

"Oh, it's just that you're up and your son is up, and it's two in the morning, and neither of you are asleep."

"Xander's up?" Jack asks, and Daniel nods,

"Yeah, didn't he find you? He was looking for you in the conference room before, so I sent him down to your quarters about an hour ago. Thought you might be trying to catch a few hours sleep while you could," Daniel says as he sits down, dragging a second full dish of brilliant blue Jell-o towards him.

"Nope. I've been with Sam in her office. We were trying to work out a reason why the iris failed and let through our charming yet uninvited friend from earlier," Jack explains, and Daniel is easily able to translate that statement to mean that Sam was trying to work out why the iris failed, while Jack was just in the same room.

"Yeah, any luck?"

"Ah, no. Sam thinks that it might have something to do with an energy spike in the readings she took, but I didn't really understand anything she said after that, so I'm not too sure."

"How could somebody on the other end of a wormhole cause an energy spike in our gate room?" Daniel asks, confused.

Jack quirks an eyebrow and begins stretching his back by raising his hands above his head and reaching upwards gently. "That's what I'd like to know. So, where is he now?"

"Huh?" Daniel asks through a mouthful of Jell-O.

"Ooh, any more of the green?" Mitchell asks, coming up behind Daniel and looking intently towards the kitchen, but Jack shakes his head.

"Nope, this is the last of it," he explains, indicating the Jell-O Daniel is now picking through and popping in his mouth.

Mitchell grabs a spoon from the table and tucks in, as well.

"You find out anything about California?" Jack asks

"Nope. Nobody who knows anything is saying much," Cam answers. Then he continues, "What I did get was that something happened between the army and somebody else, unknown. No mention of Xander, in particular, but one guy I talked to reckons he may have been part of the rescue team."

"Rescue team?" Jack echoes, confused.

"Yeah. Whatever happened went sour for both sides, and they needed to be helped out. Xander was apparently part of a civilian team that went in and righted the situation."

"No idea on what specifically happened?" Daniel asks, rescuing the rest of the Jell-O back from Cam.

"Nope. That was the one issue every source I had refused to say anything about."

"What kind of civilian team helps out the army in a bind?" Daniel continues musing on the subject out loud.

"Spooks, maybe, but that would have come up in the background search that Sam did. She's very thorough," Cam replies, snagging the second-to-last cube of Jell-O.

"Okay. Straight to the source, I guess. Where is he?" Jack asks, standing, and Daniel looks at him blankly. "My son? Tallish young man, dark hair, likes to blow stuff up?"

"Oh, umm. . . . I don't know, probably back in bed, where we should all be," Daniel reasons, and Jack nods his head in agreement.

"You might be onto something there, Danny Boy," Jack agrees, before heading out of the mess hall, leaving Mitchell and Daniel behind, both eyeing the last Jell-o square.

Jack knocks gently on the quarters currently being used by his son, but after waiting a moment for an answer and receiving none, he turns the knob and pushes the door open gently, letting the ambient light from the well-lit corridor flood into the room. Jack frowns as he sees that the bed is a mess of tangled sheets, that the comforter has been thrown to the floor, and the room is empty.

Jack turns around, pausing in thought for a moment as he checks his watch and then heads for the elevator back at the other end of the corridor, before changing direction and taking the stairs up to the level that the conference room sits on. But the big room is empty, too, and—after double-checking that Xander hasn't decided to acquaint himself with his father's office—Jack heads back towards the elevator, hitting the call button a little too eagerly and turning to a young Airman standing guard by the steel doors as he does so.

"You seen my son in the last hour?" Jack asks.

The Airman nods: "Yes, sir. He went down to 30 'bout an hour ago."

"He come back up?"

"No, sir, not that I'm aware of." Jack pats the Airman on the shoulder in thanks and wanders into the empty elevator, whose arrival was heralded by a quiet ding.

The doors slide open gently at level 30, revealing the empty corridor that stretches down to his quarters, and Jack disembarks the elevator with a yawn. Shoving his hands into his pockets as he strolls along the concrete floor, Jack yawns again and wipes a hand across his eyes tiredly. He thinks regretfully on the past, when he could pull all-nighters with more ease and bounce back more quickly than now. Though his attitude may have lost none of that earlier youthful exuberance, his body keeps reminding him of the passage of time.

Jack's door is still locked, but he slips the key into the lock and checks inside the room for his son, anyway. His eyes sweep longingly over the made bed before turning back to the hallway with a slight frown creasing his features. Jack follows the hallway around a corner and on for a bit before he checks inside an unlocked common room for any sign of Xander.

There's a telephone on the wall next to the door and Jack snatches up the receiver and punches in a number.

"Carter, you got Xander with you?" He asks directly, as soon as Sam has picked the phone up.

"No, sir. Why, should I?" Sam wonders, turning in her office to stare around the empty space.

"No, I just can't find him. I know he's not with Danny or Mitchell, so I thought he might be with you.?

"No, he's not here, sir. But he might be with Teal'c," Sam suggests, and Jack scoffs lightly and then hangs up in concern, as he considers the possibility that Sam might be right, and that --considering the short yet eventful history between Xander and Teal'c -- that could be a very bad thing, indeed.

Jack heads back down the hallway at a slight trot, now, but is brought to a sudden, grinding, heart-stopping halt as he nears the elevators. There, glistening on the concrete hallway, slightly smeared yet unmistakable, was a small dab of blood.

Jack's pulse beats loudly in his ears as he ignores the elevator and pounds up the stairs, past the surprised Airman and straight down the hallway to Sam's office.

"Pull up the video from Corridor 31A from 0100 on," he commands, as Sam's head snaps up in surprise.

"Sir?" Sam asks, momentarily confused.

"Now, Colonel!" Jack roars, and Sam starts rapidly tapping her computer, sparing a glance at Jack who has started to pace past her desk.

"Can I ask what I'm looking for?" Sam asks, slightly put out.

"Xander came down to see me on 30, but I wasn't there. Now he's missing and there's a pool of blood on the concrete."

"What?!" Sam asks, shocked, as she brings up a screen on her computer and hits a few commands on her keyboard.

Jack moves around the desk to stand beside Sam, as the video runs from one in the morning, a mere hour ago and Jack points to the screen.

"There's the blood stain, take it back ten minutes," he orders, and as Sam taps at the computer again, the screen jumps and the picture now showing is of a clear corridor with no discernible blood stain.

"Okay, fast forward," Jack orders.

The picture scrolls forward, though there's no movement on the screen, because essentially nothing is happening until Xander appears from the elevator doors.

"There he is!" Jack states redundantly, because Sam has already slowed the tape to normal speed.

Xander walks down the hallway, looking tired and disheveled. His hair is sticking up all over the place and he wanders down the hallway with a carefree expression on his face, maybe the hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth. He strolls down the hallway and out of picture.

Not even a minute later, and Xander's back in shot, wearing the same carefree look as before, as he strolls back towards the lift. He's nearly there when Jack see his son stiffen and spin around, staring up the corridor with an unsettled expression. Then Xander starts to back towards the elevator.

"What's he looking at?" Jack demands. Sam clicks a button, and the image is projected onto a large plasma screen hanging off the wall. Jack walks up to it.

"There's nothing there," he muses, confused, watching as Xander starts hitting the call button repeatedly.

Xander's on-screen hand wraps around a necklace that Jack hadn't noticed before, then he whirls around, hands up, ready to lash out at an attacker, should there be one.

Scowling, Xander demands, "Okay, fine, I'll say it. Is there anybody there?"

The light flickers, and Xander checks the elevator before he's sent flying, somehow struck from behind and sent sliding with a crash along the smooth concrete floor.

"What the hell?" Jack growls, as Xander recoils violently into a ball, finally rolling over onto his back with his arm wrapped firmly around his ribs. The young man lies on the floor, panting for a moment, before he hauls his body painfully to his feet, standing stock-still, and closes his eyes.

"He's holding his breath," Sam points out as she stares intently at the screen, and then with an explosion of movement Xander dives away to his left.

The elevator heralds its arrival with a soft bleep, and Xander looks up at the opening doors like they're ice-cream, pushing himself off the floor and sprinting towards them. Gaining speed, he's nearly at the elevator. The doors are open, he's so close to being safe, when he's jerked off his feet with so much force that for a moment he is completely airborne, near horizontal. Then gravity takes over and he slams into the concrete, his head connecting with the floor so brutally that it bounces.

Jack is stunned in silence, and he can only peer intently at the screen. His eyes never leave his son, who is now lifting his head slightly before he passes out. The boy remains unmoving for several seconds, then there is a flash of light and he's gone, and all that remains in the corridor is a small, slightly smeared pool of blood.

Jack closes his eyes, too, and forces himself to breathe. Anger is no good, now; irrational thoughts and actions will not help his son. He must be calm.

His eyes snap open again, as someone at the doorway asks, "What's going on?"

It's Daniel, and he crosses to Jack's side in concern.

"Something on Level 30 took Xander, about an hour ago," Sam explains, and Daniel's eyebrows nearly hit the roof.

"What?! What . . . ?"

"I don't know, I didn't see anything. General, did you?" Sam asks, unsettled, and Jack shakes his head.

"Bring up thermal imaging," Jack suggests, and this time it's Daniel's turn to watch in confusion as Xander battles a completely invisible force, wincing as the young man's head plays bongos on the cement.

"Try infrared."

Sam does, but again Xander's attacker remains unseen.

"I don't suppose we have radar on that thing?" Jack muses, trying to think of another way to see the invisible image.

"No, sir, but . . . ," Sam starts to tap frantically at her screen. "This may take a few minutes," she explains, and Jack looks to her for an explanation as to what she's actually doing.

"We don't have radar, but I may be able to load a program into the computer that lets us see _sound waves_."

"And what's that going to do?" Daniel asks.

"It should act like a sort of radar, bouncing off any solid object in the corridor, allowing us to construct an image of whatever attacked Xander. Of course, we'll have to program it to ignore the other hard surfaces, like the floor, the walls, the lights. It'll kind of be like a bat's-eye view of the picture," Sam explains, as Jack realizes how much work she's trying to do while simultaneously translating for their benefit.

Jack paces away, as Daniel traverses the floor in the other direction and calls the remaining two members of the team to the lab.

"We'll get him back," Daniel tells his friend. Jack closes his eyes for a moment, blinking back emotion and not answering, because he's unsure of his ability to do so without his voice cracking and the sadness and fear that's welling up inside of him taking over.

Teal'c and Cameron arrive together at a jog. Teal'c crosses the floor and stands beside his closest friend, slapping a huge hand over Jack's shoulder and tilting his head forward softly.

"Got it!" Sam declares.

The four men turn to the screen, and this time the image that's displayed is of the single figure of Xander walking on a plain of nothing.

"Okay, I've removed anything from the corridor that reflects sound -- which is, of course, everything," Sam explains.

Xander reaches the end of the screen and whirls around, but there is still only nothing behind him.

"I don't understand, why isn't this working?" Sam frowns as Teal'c waves a hand at her to silence her.

There is suddenly on screen something standing next to Xander. Something of a ghostly image, no color just a merger of white outlines, a figure represented like a cloud. It's standing still and just in front of him, waiting until Xander turns his back again, before it lashes out with a powerful backhanded swipe. Following its victim down the hallway as he falls, it lashes out with a kick. Then it retreats, as Xander rolls over, gasping heavily.

Xander pulls himself to his feet and stills himself and he and the figure are in a silent standoff for a moment before the figure races down the hallway towards Xander, who dives out of the way just as it passes him. Then Xander's up and running, as the figure pulls itself up and heads after him, yanking him back cruelly by the neck of his shirt. Xander, on the ground now, is unmoving, and the figure stands above him, calmly looking down, before they both disappear.

The team stands in silence for a shocked moment.

"Can you repeat the image at the end and increase the volume of the sound?" Teal'c asks, and Sam cues up the tape to where the figure stands over Xander and then disappears.

"Again, but louder. Much louder," Teal'c directs.

Sam does so, and this time the ambient noise at the start of the small clip is nearly deafening. Jack realizes that it is Xander's ragged breathing.

Then, suddenly, in a hollow wispy voice that sounded like the wind, "She said you'd put up a fight."

Sam stops the playback, and Jack spins on his heel, "Did you log an address from Glory's visit?"

"Yeah, the computer does that automatically," Sam confirms, and Jack looks at the team.

"Then kit up, I know where he is."

TBC

AN:AN: To those who reviewed, thanks for spurring me on, for providing positive and constructive feedback. Much appreciated, very motivating.


	27. The Sky and The Sun

AN: Sorry for the length of time between updates but I've been struggling with this, really struggling so big Thanks to My fab Beta Lori who'd I be still lost without. I've been suffering from the old curse of Writer's block and Lori helped me out so big big thanks.

Chapter 27 

Jack works the edges of his new ball cap carefully as he watches the vision from the MALP: bend the brim too much, and it would interfere with his peripheral vision; bend it not enough, and bright light could shine under and blind him at an inopportune time. Realistically, a little voice tells himself that the life of his son is not going to depend on how well-worked a new cap is, but still his hands nervously work the brim before he jams the cloth firmly down onto his head.

"We're a go," he orders, having seen from the MALP that the gate on the other side of the wormhole has been left unguarded in a secluded, wooded clearing on a planet with favorable environmental conditions.

Even so, he unclips his P-90 from his vest and tucks the stock tightly against his shoulder as he steps through the wall of blue water, ignoring the wonder of bright lights and tight turns to arrive at the other end on alert. Scanning the tree line, he moves forward ten feet and takes up a position on point. Behind him, as the remaining four members of his team step through they take up similar defensive positions. Finally, when the Stargate has shut down, SG-1 carefully observe their surroundings.

"Okay, eyes and ears open. You see someone that isn't Xander, you shoot first and we'll ask questions later," Jack commands, and looks to Sam, who tells him in a low voice, "The UAV indicates that there's a settlement about four clicks northwest of here."

"Okay, move out!" Jack orders, again taking on the point position and heading off in the right direction, followed by Sam, then Daniel, with Cam and Teal'c bringing up the rear.

An hour ago he was eating dessert and wondering if he should ask Xander to come and stay with him at the cabin. Worrying if he should torture himself by asking Xander if he could have some pictures of the young man growing up. Now, he was on the other side of the galaxy, looking for an auburn-haired witch who'd been involved in something so messy back on earth that the United States Army had to call for help. And, oddly enough, that help had included his son. His son, who had no formal offensive training of any description, yet who'd rescued his mother and grandfather from the hands of the Trust. His son, who hadn't participated in even a local karate class, but who'd stood, eyes closed, in a hallway at Stargate Command and had dodged out of the way of a completely invisible attacker. His son, a stranger whom he desperately wants to get to know.

They all freeze as a twig snaps off to their left, and the group drops to one knee and brings their weapons up almost in unison. Jack holds up a tight-closed fist to indicates that there is a need for complete silence, yet, ironically, there is no need for the signal: the group has barely spoken since coming through the gate a half hour before. Jack scans the forest around him and sees nothing, so he spares a glance back at the more competent tracker, Teal'c, who shakes his head. There is nothing out there. Given the signal to move on, the team does so carefully, alert to the possibility of an ambush, with Teal'c's eyes searching the trees to ward off a possible arboreal surprise attack.

_Hold on_, Jack thinks. _Hold on, Xander_, Jack pleads. _We're coming for you_.

When you fall to the ground unconscious in a corridor deep underground, in a top secret and very secure military facility, some part of your brain logically expects to wake up there. Waking up with trees above you is a little off-putting. Rolling over and seeing the woman who tried her hardest to take over the world and kill all your friends, sitting cross-legged and watching you, will nearly put you over the edge. 

"What the…?!" Xander demands, rolling away from the ex-goddess.

"You've been asleep for hours!" Glory complains, as soon as Xander's eyes meet hers.

"Unconscious," he murmurs back, pulling his body very painfully into a sitting position and resisting the urge to flee.

"What?" Glory whines.

"You had someone beat me up and kidnap me; therefore, I wasn't sleeping, I was unconscious, and having to wait for me to be conscious again is your own damn fault."

Xander reaches for the back of his head and winces when his hand finds a crust of dried blood. At least it was dried, which meant that the bleeding had stopped.

"Urgh! Whatever," Glory snaps, rising to her feet gracefully. "Well, come on then!" she orders, starting off through the woods.

It's seeing a butterfly damned near as big as his head that puts him onto the fact that he probably isn't in Kansas anymore, and so he forces himself to jog and catch up with Glory -- who was making remarkably good time in stilettos -- despite the pounding behind his eyes which seems to throb even harder every time his feet make contact with the ground.

"Where are we?" he asks, panting as he catches up with her.

"I'll give you a clue. It's not Earth," Glory fires back, turning to glance at him wearing her most smug expression. "The people I work for don't often hear the word 'no'."

"See, now, I still can't quite get a handle on that," Xander baits, dropping a few steps behind so Glory must turn to look at him. "The great Glorificus on somebody else's payroll? Taking orders and playing the company's game, are we?"

"Shut your face. I could still break you in half with my pinkie."

"Yeah, you could, but oh, no! You might get fired!" Xander cries dramatically.

For a second Glory looks like she might actually carry out her threat, but beyond her the forest opens up into a clearing, and Glory notices and turns around without another word. Standing in the middle of the clearing is a temple -- small, as temples go, but decked out with gold leaf and carved architecture, and if he hadn't just been kidnapped and marched through the woods after a pissed-off former goddess, Xander might have stopped to enjoy the craftsmanship that went into building the structure. Hand-carved wooden pillars and ornate stairs led up towards a dark door, set amongst sandstone. 

His eyes sweep the structure left to right, as Xander follows Glory into the very centre of the temple, where she stops outside a set of closed double doors.

"In there," Glory states, pointing at the doors with a manicured, buffed, and fire-engine-red-painted nail.

"You're not coming in?" Xander asks as Glory backs away from the doors, and the ex-goddess glares at him, huffs, and turns away.

He's not sure what he's expecting to see through the doors, but it certainly isn't an old man in an expensive suit working on a laptop -- all the while perched on a luxurious throne made of solid gold.

"Huh!" Xander states in surprise, and the man looks up. Straight away, Xander gets the intense and off-putting feeling that he's met this man before.

"Alexander, I trust your journey here wasn't too unpleasant?" the man says, breaking into a grin and closing the lid of the laptop.

"Well, I was kicked, whacked over the head, and forced to spend more than a second with Glory, so I'm going to go with 'it pretty much sucked,'" Xander retorts, stepping away from the door and walking further into the room.

"The offer for you to come voluntarily was extended, and you rejected it," the man replies casually, stepping off the throne and moving towards Xander.

"Should have taken the hint that maybe I didn't want to come," Xander suggests.

"Believe me, Alexander, if I could have let you be, I would have."

"Really? So why am I here?"

"That, Alexander, is simple. I need you to save the world."

"Huh?" Xander spits in surprise. "'Cause the other side wants me to do that, too, and I'm fairly certain that means that you'd lose."

"Well, that's only if you make the assumption that there are two sides," he answers. "We're trying to save the world, Alexander. Later, there will come a time when a battle between ourselves will decide who rules it. But first and foremost, the world must be saved." 

"See, I was kinda warned about this," Xander states, rubbing a hand to his brow. "I _think_ I was warned about this. 'Men who are coming to use me for their own purposes.' I'm pretty sure that's going to turn out to be you." 

"It may well be. But, regardless, we are offering our services to the champion."

"Well, I'm not the champion. Even if I were, what makes you think I'd need your help?" 

"Because you have no idea of what is coming, and if you did, then you would accept all the help you can get," the man replies.

"You know what would be great? If someone would just stop all the banter and end-of-the-world crap and tell me straight out, in plain English, what the hell is going on!"

"I believe I can do that," the man agrees with a smile fit for somebody's grand-pop. "My organization has unfortunately -- inadvertently -- triggered a potentially apocalyptic event. And as we were responsible for making this mess, we thought it beneficial that we clean it up."

"That wasn't plain English, and I still have no freaking idea what's going on," Xander warns.

"I work for a group of people who use the same technology your father uses to explore the galaxy, in order to exploit it. Our remit is to acquire, by any means necessary, advanced technology which we can use to increase technological standards on Earth."

"You're raiding the universe to find weapons," Xander summarizes in disgust.

"That's part of it," the man admits.

"So, how'd you start Armageddon?" 

"Some of our teams encountered a race called the Ori, who are converting the universe to their religion and wiping out any worlds that fail to comply."

"Like early Christian explorers."

"With weaponry far more powerful than nuclear warheads."

"And you pissed these guys off?" Xander says in alarm.

"Basically, yes. And as a direct result from our contact, the Ori are now on their way to Earth, to convert us or to destroy us," the man answers.

"So, why not tell the army, or whatever?" Xander demands in confusion.

"Because the army can't help us." 

"Really? Why not?"

"Because the United States military are not listed in a prophecy -- a prophecy that states that salvation from this crisis will come from you, Alexander."

Xander snorts in disbelief. "I'm listed personally, am I?"

"It is the prophecy of the two suns."

"You say that like I'm supposed to know what the hell you're talking about," Xander snaps angrily. 

"'The sun was lost to the sky, and night opened, and from the heavens came destruction. The sun was lost, and once the sky recovers him, the crusade can be led to resurrection."

"Oh, come on! That could mean anything. How about an eclipse of some kind?"

"No. It relates to you and I, Alexander, because you see, my name is Mr. Skye, and you are the Lost Son."

Xander seems to be about to protest again, but stops. Mr. Skye watches as the boy's whole body tenses.

"I know you," Xander says, more to himself, really, than to the man he's talking with.

"I was following an order, Alexander. An order that would potentially allow the greatest advancement in technology our world had ever seen."

_'You're too special, Charlie, that's why. You're just too special.' _ Xander's mind plays over the words he had been remembering, and his eyes snap up to the man standing opposite him.

Mr. Skye involuntarily takes a step back, as the stone-cold gaze captures his.

"I'm too special," Xander says out loud.

"You were too loved. Other men might have coped," Mr Skye explains.

"So you shot me in the head?" Xander demands, his voice quiet.

"I did what I was told to do. At the time, it was for the best."

"And now you want me to clean up your mess?"

"I want you to save the world."

"I'll do that, anyway, but I don't think you'll be around to see it." Xander is watching something behind Mr. Skye, and smiling.

Mr Skye freezes, and his heart starts to pound in his chest, because now, as he turns his head to fully view what he had caught in his peripheral vision, he is confronted by the sight of Jack O'Neill, weapon drawn and aimed at his head, murder in his eyes.

To Be Continued

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	28. The Worst Cut is the Deepest

Chapter 28

Standard Discalimer Applies

AN: Big cheers to Lori, the best Beta in the world!

The Worst Cut is the Deepest - Chapter 28

Jack makes a joke -- it's a bad joke, but Xander laughs anyway and does a funny, 'snorting' thing with his nose that sends him into a choking fit. Jack slaps him on the back smartly and nearly sends him flying, and Xander turns to rebuff his father, but can't because of the choking and the fact that Jack is laughing, too.

They don't see the shooter; they're too busy trying to breathe through snorts of mirth, and it's not until they hear the shot that they are aware that someone has been in the woods following them. The bullet hits Xander in the chest and blows a hole the size of an orange out of his back as it exits his body. Jack turns, pulling his sidearm from his holster, and has taken out the shooter almost before Xander has hit the ground. His son is choking for real now, choking on blood and unable to breathe. Jack helps him slow down the gasps of air and he's calm and collected as he puts pressure on the wounds, using a satellite phone to call for help. But it's too late, and help never comes.

As Xander snaps back to reality, Jack holds the gun on Skye, unwavering, and Xander is unable to get the look of loss in Jack's eyes out of his mind.

"Jack," Daniel warns. One word, low tone.

If Jack hears, he doesn't acknowledge, doesn't turn or even look away from the old man before him. An old man who just admitted to stealing his son's life away. Who is responsible for causing the overwhelming grief Jack had been feeling for fourteen years.

"Daniel's right, General: we need him to tell us what's going on," Sam tells her commanding officer. But Jack's still standing, weapon drawn and held with both hands, pointing it at the old man.

"You want to save the world, you'll need me alive," Mr. Skye says quickly, and he turns to Xander. "Tell him. Tell him he needs me alive to save the world."

"If I tell him anything, it'll be to kill you," Xander states, watching Jack closely, wanting to make sure that he wasn't standing in the way of a good shot.

"Xander," Daniel says warningly, and Xander shoots a glare at the archaeologist. "We need him alive," Daniel continues.

"Not really. There'll be more players, and they're fighting the same battle, apparently. This way, Mr. Skye here doesn't get to take over the world after we've cleaned up his mess," Xander explains rationally in an irrational situation.

"Xander!" Mitchell snaps, moving up to stand beside Jack, who seems aware of what's going on around him, despite the fact that his team has cut him out of all conversation, instead mediating their arguments through the very child he's avenging.

"Sir, I can't even begin to explain how justified you are in wanting to put a bullet in this guy's brain. But then the world ends, and we all get got by whatever is coming to get us, and you lose him again," Mitchell says softly.

For the first time Jack's eyes snap away from Mr. Skye and move back and forth between Mitchell and Xander, before settling on his son, watching Mr. Skye in his peripheral vision.

Suddenly, behind him he hears his team's weapons snap up as Xander calls out a warning.

"Glory, no!"

Jack glances behind him, but he can't see much of a threat: the 'witch' that was their visitor earlier had walked into the chamber and was now just standing by the door casually, unarmed. Xander seems terrified by this, and Jack looks back to his son, who snaps out of his daze.

Xander moves quickly, very quickly. He pulls a knife he'd 'acquired' -- for want of a better word -- from the belt of Daniel Jackson earlier, and slips behind Mr. Skye. In a blink of an eye it seems he's gone from standing and staring to grabbing the old man roughly and jamming the knife up against his neck.

"You going to stop me with a knife?" Glory asks sweetly. "Aw, Sweetie, did you forget how hard it was to take me down last time?" She takes a step forward, cocks her head to one side, and sends a sweet smile at Mitchell.

"Glory," Xander warns, and Jack can see the fear in his son's face.

"You think I'm just going to play nice? You haven't forgotten who I am, but they have, and it's pissing me off," Glory says, as she starts forward.

"No! You take one step more towards them, and I'm going to jam this thing in his spine and out his throat," Xander replies, his tone dark.

The comment puts the armed team on edge, because Xander is afraid of an unarmed woman in stiletto heels.

"It's okay, Xander, we've got her covered," Mitchell says, as Jack leaves his vengeful thoughts behind and spins around to cover Glory.

"Put your weapons down, and I might let you live," Glory instructs. She's still moving, but now she's bypassing the team and coming directly towards Xander.

"Xander?" Daniel asks, looking away from his target and back towards the kid who seems sure of what the woman is threatening to do.

"You shoot her, you're just going to piss her off," Xander explains, watching Glory. Somewhere in his mind, the hyena is laughing: it's afraid.

Glory strolls past the team, her hips swaying, and she arrives next to Xander, who holds his ground and gets ready to carry out his threat.

"I want to thank you," Glory says in a whisper, with a sly smile. Xander doesn't answer; he can tell he's being baited and doesn't play into the game. "You reminded me of what it's like. You were right, Xander. I'm sick of being a pawn," Glory sighs, with a smile.

She's going to kill him. The warning comes from himself and the soldier at the same time, and Glory's hand is whipping forward, crimson red nails flashing like blood, as Xander pulls Skye back. But it's too late: the claws have torn through the front of his chest and found the old man's heart, leaving Xander holding onto a corpse. He lets the body drop to the ground, where blood spills from Skye's chest and pools on the floor.

Mitchell fires first -- a single burst of P90 fire that hits Glory in the torso and does absolutely nothing except punch holes in her dress.

"Hold fire!" Jack barks, because Glory is now staring at the team outraged.

"That dress was Prada," she states, and turns back to Xander. "You know how much I hate to see good fashion ruined," she says coyly, flirting.

"Giving yourself a promotion?" Xander asks, amazed at how calm he managed to sound despite the fact that the situation was spinning out of control.

"Well, I think I deserved it. So now, I guess, you answer to me," Glory replies, smiling. Then she breaks into a grin. "And I know all your soft spots," she finishes.

"You go there, and you lose the war," Xander snaps coldly.

Glory points a finger at the team.

"You know, I'd hate to have to kill you. Some of you are nice to look at. But I have needs," she says, winking at Sam.

"Leave them out of this. I got one offer for you, Glory," Xander says, stepping in front of Glory and blocking her view of the team.

"You have an offer for me?" Glory asks, amused. "What could you possibly offer me? I'm holding all the cards, Love. You need me to boost your side, and you're going to let me do whatever I want in order for me to do that."

"Not the way this works. You want to hear what I can offer?" Xander asks, stepping closer to the goddess -- so close that he's standing inches away from her. He leans closer still and brings his lips right next to her ear.

"I'll be your champion," Xander starts to whisper. Jack can't hear what his son is saying, but he can see Glory's eyes light up in glee, and it makes him nervous.

"Oh, I like that!" Glory announces, bouncing happily. She turns her head and catches Xander's lips with her own and kisses him. "Deal!" she says after pulling back, biting her lip and staring at Xander' own lips.

"I guess I know some of your soft spots, too," Xander says in a low voice as he licks his lower lip.

"Are they flirting?" Mitchell demands in a stage whisper, and Glory snaps her head up and glares at him.

"You can go," she says, and waves her hand.

"Excuse me?" Sam asks, because she -- like the rest of the team -- had been experiencing a huge sense of doom about the current encounter.

"You may leave. The first path on the left leads back to the Stargate," Glory explains.

"I'm not going without Xander," Jack states, and Glory rolls her eyes.

"Did I say he couldn't go with you?" she asks, and Jack looks at Xander, who shrugs.

"Okay, let's go, then," Daniel suggests, although he doesn't move.

"I'll see you later," Glory tells Xander, and her hips sway as she stalks away, deeper into the temple.

"What the hell was that about?" Jack demands of his son, who is the only one heading for the door.

"Ah, that would be about me saving your butts," Xander states as he heads out into the sunshine, forcing the team to follow him.

"And why did we need saving?" Mitchell demands as they head down the steps. Xander is leading, and he's setting a quick pace.

"Because Glory likes to suck the life and sanity out of people and leave them with a whole bunch of crazy nothing swirling around their noggins," Xander explains, walking so fast he's near jogging.

"And the bit where I shot her and it did nothing?!" Mitchell demands, jogging to get next to Xander.

"I told you not to shoot," Xander answers.

"Tell us what the hell is going on!" Mitchell orders in a firm yell.

"Glory's decided that she's done being the bitch and would like to be the master. This is bad, because she gets a little obsessed with her quests for world domination," Xander answers.

"World domination?" Jack asks, his tone more curious.

"She tried it back in Sunnydale, killed a bunch of people."

"And you just made a deal with her?" Jack asks, and Xander nods.

"Skye told me that people called the Uri . . . Auroa ... " He frowns, trying to recall the name.

"The Ori?" Daniel asks, and Xander breaks into a grin.

"That's it, the Ori! The Ori are coming, and they're basically going to take over the world," Xander says, and discovers his quick pace has lead him back to the Stargate.

"The Ori are on their way to earth?" Daniel demands, and Xander nods.

"Yup, and apparently that's scary enough for both sides to come together and fight as one. Which I don't think has ever happened before." Xander muses for a moment, stuck on that point.

"'Both sides'?" Sam asks.

"Good and Evil," Xander replies, looking at the DHD with a mixture of curiosity and confusion. Daniel steps up to it and starts punching in the address.

"And your deal with Glory?" Jack asks as the wormhole is established.

"I fight as her champion," Xander says, and Jack shakes his head, not understanding.

"Her champion?"

"Well, the champion. I guess if both sides have merged, I'm really just 'the champion.' But with an affiliation to Glory. . . I think."

"And what do you get in return?" Jack demands.

"I get you. I get you non-crazy, still compos mentis, and with a full load of brain,". Xander replies. Then he shrugs. "Hence, the reason for the hasty retreat. Because that deal sounds a little too good for Glory -- she's not a big fan of letting people go, unharmed," Xander hints, looking at the Stargate.

"You think she'd renege?" Sam asks, and Xander nods, looking over his shoulder.

"I know she will, so we need to get back to Earth, like, NOW," Xander says, making a hurry motion with his hands.

"And if she follows?" Jack asks.

"She can follow, but she can't do anything once she's there. She was banished from Earth, and she can't make with the touchy, brain-sucky-sucky, there," Xander explains, staring at something off to his left.

"Why not?" Daniel wonders.

"All questions can be answered someplace where there isn't an evil former goddess trying to kill us!" Xander snaps, and Teal'c tilts his head and speaks for the first time.

"He is right, we must move away from the threat and return to safety," he states, and heads towards the gate, ducking slightly as he steps through the wormhole.

Teal'c's departure starts the others moving, and Mitchell and Sam step through together, followed by Daniel. Jack stands at the watery-looking event horizon and waits for Xander to move towards him.

"Does it hurt?" Xander asks, looking at the Stargate and stopping a few feet away from the water-like surface.

"No," Jack says with a smile, and Xander looks at him doubtfully, keeping a watchful eye on his surroundings as well.

"You wanna hold my hand?" Jack asks, extending his hand, and Xander looks at it and rolls his eyes, but he keeps eying the hand like he's thinking about it.

"Okay," Xander agrees, taking Jack's hand.

Jack steps forward, but Xander doesn't move. Jack stops and stares at Xander: his son is gripping his hand so tightly Jack's knuckles have gone white.

"You'll get it, one day," Xander says with a sudden cold look in his eyes, and Jack sees the knife coming towards him, but he can't make sense of it, can't believe it. The blade is past Jack's defenses in an instant and buried up to the hilt in Jack's chest.

Jack's eyes open wide in fear and betrayal, and Xander lets go of Jack's hand and pushes him back into the wormhole.

"Bye, Daddy."

TBC

So do you like? Hate? It's been so long and honestly I've lost the flow of the story and am trying to just finish it off. Oops I'm a bad writer.


	29. As it Seems?

Chapter 29

Jack falls backwards through the Stargate and is saved from crashing headfirst onto the metal ramp by Daniel, whom Jack falls on and takes down with him.

"Jack!" Daniel groans in annoyance under his friend. "Get off me," he says with a push.

"Jack! Get a med team in here!" Mitchell yells from the bottom of the ramp, and Daniel's heart skips several beats as he scrambles out from under Jack and stares in horror at the knife buried in Jack's chest.

"Xander . . . ," Jack murmurs, staring at the knife and struggling to catch his breath.

Daniel tries to figure out if he should touch the knife, or even Jack's chest. He knows better than to just pull it out, but how can he stop the bleeding by applying pressure with the knife in the way? In the end, he leaves it where it is – doesn't even touch it -- and crawls up to look into Jack's ashen face, his eyes twitching behind his eyelids like he's having a bad dream.

"Jack? Open your eyes," Daniel orders, grabbing Jack by both sides of his face and shaking him a bit. "Jack, come on!" he says, as the med team arrives and pushes him out of the way. "Come on, Jack!" Daniel yells again.

"Stop shouting," Jack finally whispers, cracking both eyes open, and Daniel's mouth twists in a smile of mingled affection and exasperation at the inappropriateness of joking when lying on the ground with a knife sticking out of your body, trust Jack to treat his own near death experience with irreverence.

"Give us room," Dr. Lamb demands, and Daniel reluctantly stands and steps away.

"What the hell happened?" Mitchell demands, grabbing Daniel's arm and spinning the man towards him.

"He was right behind me!" Daniel answers, unable to take his eyes off the knife sticking out of Jack's chest as his friend is swarmed over by medical personnel.

"We need to move him, now," Lamb instructs, and Jack grunts in pain as he is lifted onto a gurney.

"Xander . . . ," Jack whispers again, as Lamb jabs two fingers into her boss's neck to check his pulse.

"OK, pulse is weak and thready – we're going _**now**_." The medical team sweeps Jack from the room, and if it weren't for the sterile wrappings left behind it would be hard to tell that they'd ever been there.

"O'Neill is right," Teal'c murmurs, and Mitchell and Daniel turn to him. "Xander has not come through the stargate," Teal'c finishes.

"Was there anyone else around?" Sam asks Danny, who shakes his head.

"Xander was worried about stepping through. Jack said he'd come through with him. There wasn't anyone else there."

As Daniel speaks, there is a glimmer in the watery surface of the event horizon, and Xander steps through, smiling.

"That's completely peculiar," he states, running a hand over his body to ensure nothing has been forgotten in the wormhole.

There are four sets of eyes on him, and Xander simply smiles at them, too.

"You ever get used to that?" he asks, but isn't answered. "What's going on?"

"You tell me!" Mitchell demands.

"OK," Xander looks around the room and his eyes seek Jack but don't find him. Then his gaze lowers to take in the medical waste strewn across the ground. "Where's Jack?"

"You didn't see?" Mitchell says in disbelief.

"Where is Jack?" Xander repeats the question very carefully.

"He's being treated," Sam replies, and Xander turns his focus onto her.

"Why?"

Mitchell puts a hand on the butt of his 9mm. The action isn't unnoticed by Xander -- or the rest of the team, for that matter.

"Because," Mitchell says, drawing the weapon, "You just stabbed him through the chest."

"What?!"

"Put your hands up," Mitchell orders.

"This is insane, Mitchell. I didn't stab Jack!" Xander argues, raising his hands nonetheless, holding them carefully out in front of him.

"What deal did you make with Glory?" Daniel demands suddenly.

"You heard: I told her I'd be the Champion."

"There was more to it than that," Sam argues.

"There really wasn't. Is jack going to be OK?"

"He had a K-Bar buried in his chest, so I'm thinking his chances are not so good," Mitchell snaps, and Xander looks like he's been punched in the face.

"I had nothing to do with that. When he stepped through in front of me he was fine."

"He's not fine!" Daniel snaps back, his agitation showing.

"If I had stabbed him, don't you think I'd come up with a better story than that?" Xander demands in a shout. "I want to see him!"

"So you can finish the job?" Mitchell questions.

"So I can see if he's all right. He's my _**father**_," Xander argues.

"I'm afraid that's not going to be possible until we figure out what's going on," Sam says quietly.

"Look, I get it: you think that it could only be me, and trust me when I say that I get it. But this is the last time I'm going to say it. I did not stab Jack. I wouldn't do that; I couldn't do that!" Xander implores, and his manner and desperation are enough for the moment to make every team member doubt the fact that Xander was unequivocally guilty.

Mitchell's radio buzzes to life as his gun starts to lower.

"Colonel Mitchell, this is Dr. Lamb. I thought you should know that General O'Neill named the person who stabbed him. It was his son."

The guns are raised again, and Xander starts to smile.

"Oh, come on! I only stabbed him a little, and it was for a very good reason," he says by way of explanation.

"What?" Sam demands, unnerved by the smile.

"I needed a way back home," Xander explains casually, as he starts to walk forward.

"Stop," Mitchell commands, ten feet away and aching not to have to shoot the son of his superior officer.

"You already _**were**_ coming home," Sam says in confusion.

"No,_**you**_ were coming home. I was staying, because I wasn't allowed to return home," Xander explains, and he takes another step.

"Xander, I'm warning you, don't take another step," Mitchell barks.

Xander doesn't stop, doesn't even pause, and as Mitchell fires two completely ineffectual rounds through the boy's centre mass, he smiles.

"What the hell?" Mitchell says in shock, just before Xander takes advantage of the Colonel's surprise to sweep him aside with a powerful backhand.

"Fire!" a voice calls out, and before every automatic weapon in the place can tear him to shreds a light surrounds Xander, and he is gone.

"Holy crap!" Daniel mutters, staring in horror at the place where Xander was standing.

"Indeed," Teal'c confirms, glancing around as if Xander could still be in the room.

"What just happened?" Mitchell demands, pulling himself painfully off the floor.

" I don't know," Sam states, shaking her head.

"I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that that wasn't really Xander," Daniel starts, and all eyes turn to him. "That's why he stabbed Jack, because Jack would have known."

"How would Jack have known? They've only known each other for two days," Mitchell argues.

"It's Jack; he would have known," Sam agrees.

"If that is not Xander Harris, then who is it?" Teal'c asks, and Daniel looks horrified as the realisation hits.

"I don't know. But we need to find out what the hell is going on."

"Yeah, that would be a given," Mitchell deadpans, as he clears his head and collects his weapon from the floor. "'Cause this . . . this can't be good."

TBC

R&R


	30. Make With The Explanation

**Make with the explanation - Chapter 30**

**AN: Continuing thanks to Lori, enjoy the convention! Hopefully this clears up some confusion.  
**

"You goddamn holy Bitch! I am going to kill you, you harpy!" Xander yells as he arrives in a clearing in the forest, amid a flash of white light.

'_Oh God, will you stop it? He__'__ll be fine, you__'__ll be fine. I just need a ride around town for a day or two, and then I__'__ll give you right back.'_

The voice comes from inside his head, and the words are anything but comforting.

"Why are you doing this?!" Xander grabs his head by his hair, wondering if he can shake her out.

'_Because your very sweet Mr. Giles killed my only link to this world, Ben and banished me to wherever, like I was some kind of old newspaper. '_

"What the hell are you talking about? You've started to not make a whole lot of sense, and I want an explanation I can understand, right now!"

'_OK, darling, here it is: I was banished from my dimension and sent to yours, where I was allowed to come out and play, occasionally, using Ben. With Ben__'__s death my doorway closed. I wasn__'__t allowed to go home, and I wasn__'__t allowed to stay on your world, either. I was expelled into space, where Mr. Skye found me one day, floating through infinite nothing, and he rescued me.'_

"I knew I hated that guy. Why are you in my head?"

'_Because you asked for my help.' _Glory states, as though to say "duh!"

"I'm sorry, I don't see how stabbing Jack or hijacking me helps," Xander spits. "In fact, all together I have very little idea as to what the hell is going on!"

'_The Ori are coming to Earth to harvest the power of belief: they__'__ll suck the planet dry and destroy everything in sight, and then they__'__ll move on to other worlds and do the same thing there.' _

"It's not that I don't believe you, but sorry, it's just you're the last person I expected to care about that!" Xander snaps.

'_Well, my only hope of ever getting back to my own dimension is somewhere on this world. It__'__s not the key anymore, and I don__'__t know what it is or where it is, but if everything went __'__poof!__'__ then that would put a serious downer on my travel arrangements.'_

"I should have known: you're only helping yourself."

'_Which is convenient for you, because helping myself means helping you. The Powers That Be have selected you as their Champion -- maybe because of the prophecy, maybe because you__'__re a stubborn bastard that won__'__t ever just lie down and die like he should. I don__'__t know, and I don__'__t care. I know Mr. Skye thinks you__'__re the __'__Lost Sun__'__, or some shit.' _

"He mentioned that in the temple -- the prophecy of the Lost Son."

'_There__'__re mixed theories as to what Prophecies actually are. __'__Messages from the future__'__ seems to be a popular one, and since I__'__ve learnt about the Ancients, the fact that prophecies are so convoluted actually makes a lot of sense.' _

"You lost me," Xander sighs.

'_The Ancients lived on your world thousands of years ago, before they ascended to a higher plane of existence. Apparently, they have rules about intervening in what goes on in the realm of humans. Some people say prophecies are messages from the ascended -- a kind of code hidden among the babble that isn__'__t necessarily intervention, because they can be interpreted in a number of different ways.' _

"So, Skye sees one about a lost Son – me, who he was trying to kill in order to clean up a mess he made fourteen years ago -- and thinks it's the reckoning?" Xander states in disbelief.

'_Skye was a puppet. The people he worked for decided the prophecy was about you, which is a good thing for you: otherwise, you__'__d be dead. So would anyone that knew you as Charlie. Poof! You__'__re gone, and there__'__s no more embarrassing mistake.' _

"Mistake? How do you know all this stuff?"

'_Skye liked to talk, and what he talked about was that the United States couldn't readily send a man on a suicide mission, not even if it was to save the world. So, they decided to send a nuke instead. The Trust decided that wasn__'__t an acceptable solution to the problem, so they orchestrated it so that somebody would volunteer for the mission. Even if it meant not coming back.' _

"Okay, you skipped a page, cause I have no idea what you're talking about."

'_I__'__m talking about the discovery of the Stargate. I__'__m talking about Jack wandering through the gate with a nuke in one hand and a heavy wish to die in the other, and a very bad thing intent on forcing Earth into Slavery. The Trust__'__s plan worked perfectly -- except for the fact that you didn__'__t stay dead, that Jack found something worth living for, and that fourteen years after three men with a conscience decided you had to live, you wake up one day and know who daddy is again.' _

"Jack saved the world?"

'_Because you were gone. You were his inspiration, because damn if he didn__'__t love you.' _

"Okay, that covers that. But why are you in my head?"

'_Need to see some people about making you be all you can be, honey. We got a war to stop.. . . Do I hear growling?_ '

"Yeah, it's the hyena, and I don't think he likes you."

'_You know, Xander, it__'__s pretty crowded in here.' _

"You could leave, and then it would be less crowded," Xander suggests hopefully.

'_I could do that. But, unfortunately for you, if I leave, you die.' _

"What?!"

'_Mitchell shot you. You__'__ve been shot. That__'__s why there__'__s the red stuff leaking from you. At the moment, you__'__re only not dead because I__'__m not letting you die. Once I leave your body, then my power comes with me and you drop stone-cold, baby.' _

"That's not good," Xander whispers.

'_There might be __**maybe**__ something I can do about it later, but right now I__'__m going to take over for awhile and get some shit done. So sit back and enjoy the ride, cause it__'__s going to be a wild one.'_

_TBC _


End file.
